|
Post by Terris on May 31, 2014 21:08:06 GMT -8
Terris had taken to dragon flight like he was born to it. The knight sat proudly on the shoulders of the large brown beast as they soared and glided far above the treeline. He should have been surveying the area, looking for other stranded humanoids, but the sun was warm, and the day was so pleasant that he just couldn't bring himself to care.
Oh, this doesn't look good. Akanth's voice filtered through his mind, and his brows knit together with concern.
"What doesn't? You find a human down there?" he peered down, but didnt see anything that would resemble a human.
No, there's a rather full looking Pload down there, and what looks like a congregation of them a little further up. Ploads in a group is never a good thing, we should check it out. Terris nodded to the dragon, who spiralled lazily down and stopped a safe distance away from the large amphibian, then bowed to allow him to dismount. He approached the creature carefully, it was glossy black colour, with bright, banana yellow spots, and a rather comical yellow marking just visible on its underbelly. The creatures glared at him with shiny, bright, but unintelligent eyes.
"Well? What do I do?" he asked, completely dumbfounded. The dragon sighed.
Get behind it and jump on it of course, that should make it regurgitate whatever it has eaten. It may give us some clues as to what is going on up ahead Terris gave the dragon a scathing look, Akanth pretended not to notice.
He snuck up behind the large toad, and as instructed, jumped on the creature. The pload made a loud "Ulp" sound as a porus blue-green egg and a whole lot of slime slid out of the creature's large mouth.
"EEEEW! disgusting! Did I get any on me? It STINKS" Terris complained, the dragon ignored him, and the pload, annoyed at being squashed, and losing its lunch, wriggled it's way out from under him, turned around and began to hop the way it came.
They are eating saydar eggs. Going to have to stop them, if they kill all the brooding males, we'll find it very hard to clutch ourselves this year, they are our main source of food. You go on ahead and try to ward them off eating any more. I'll go back and find a dragon to send a message to the Nexus to bring the bonded dragons, and their humans, then I'll be right back"
Terris was not entirely happy about this, but did as he was asked, and followed the Yellow Dicked Pload.
When he arrived, absolute chaos greeted him. Male saydar were running every which way, trying to kick, peck and stomp the large amphibians, while the Ploads were spitting plasma at the large flightless birds. Terris saw a multicoloured pload go after another egg, and jumped on it, the Pload blorfed at him, but he subdued the creature and stuffed it into his backpack.
"I hope Akanth gets back soon, I don't think I have room in my bag for another one" he said to nobody in particular, as he began to kick, jump on and chase off the brightly coloured egg thieves.
|
|
|
Post by Terris on May 31, 2014 21:28:31 GMT -8
NOTES:
Each participant will get ONE Pre-designed Pload and between 1 and 5 completely random Saydar eggs to take home. I will roll the genetics for saydar and the stats for both saydar and ploads when the event has run its course, this is also when it will be revealed what your pload looks like, and how many saydar eggs you get.
Trading saydar and ploads after the event IS permitted, and probably a good idea if you get saydar of all one gender.
|
|
|
Post by angelique on May 31, 2014 22:13:50 GMT -8
A female dragon soars in to deposit another rider, but her rider isn't nearly as graceful in her dismount as she loses her balance and almost lands on the back of one the egg thieves. Her breath is knocked out of her and all she can think of for the next few moments is trying to remember how to breathe as she takes in the scene.
Grab it before it can eat an egg! Don't let it spit on you!
Mirath's commanding tone gets her moving finally. She doesn't need to be told to be careful of the brightly colored creatures stealing the eggs. Experience with wild things had long ago taught her the hard way that bright colors were usually a warning that the creature sporting them would either taste bad or have some other unpleasant surprise for anyone who ignored the warning.
She manages to grab the legs of one of the creatures and pulls it to her with a little effort managing to stop it for the moment as she tries to figure out what to do with it now. The situation is so absurd, that the normally stern ranger starts to laugh at the mess she'd gotten herself into.
|
|
|
Post by Amerlan on May 31, 2014 22:54:09 GMT -8
Amerlan and Seroth had been on a relaxing flight when Seroth had received the message about Saydars and Ploads. Without warning to his bonded he quickly turned east and banked for a lake in the distance. Amerlan shrieked and held on for dear life as Seroth made for the lake without warning. "Are you trying to make me fall off? In case you hadn't noticed there isn't much to hold onto back here!"
"The Saydars, our food, are in trouble. Ploads have invaded and are trying to eat all of the eggs." He relayed the mindspeak to her.
Amerlan held on tight as they quickly approached where these Pload creatures must be. She knew she couldn't ask Seroth to turn around, besides, maybe she could take one of these egg eaters home. She was sure no one would miss one missing Pload. "If we're taking anything home it'll be a few Saydars, we need to be self sustaining from the Weyr."
Finally alighting down the two realised they weren't the first to show up. A head of them were a man, a woman and a dragon who's names she couldn't quite place. Seeing the giant colorful Ploads eating the eggs Amerlan sprang into action. First she tried to grap an egg out of one's mouth, but had narrowly avoided being covered in goo as it spit at her. "Gross! So how am I supposed to do this anyways?"
Seroth gave a rumbling chuckle, "Didn't you pay attention to the others? Jump on their backs to get them to spit up the eggs!"
Doing as Seroth had instructed she quickly jumped on the Pload who had spit at her before. Out of its mouth came more goo and two Saydar eggs. Quickly snatching them up she laid them at Seroths feet for safe keeping before diving back into the thick of it.
|
|
|
Post by Duzell on Jun 1, 2014 0:56:23 GMT -8
Duzell and Nysath raced across the sky. Duzell had never had as much fun in his entire life. "I'm never walking again!" he yelled as he lifted his arms over his head in excitement. Without warning Nysath banked sharply to the left nearly causing Duzell to tumble off his back. Duzell yelped and clung to Nysath's neck. "What was that? A little warning would be nice!" There has been a slight change of plans. The Saydars are being attacked. We are going to help. Before Duzell could ask what any of that meant Nysath was already landing.
Duzell was confused, to say the least. Strange birds were running around attacking giant rainbow toads. The giant toads were, in turn, eating all the bird's eggs. But it wasn't just animals running around in this crazy conflict. Three people and two dragons were already here to help, retrieving and guarding eggs. "Umm, Nysath, what am I supposed to be doing here." You save the eggs. Do not let the Ploads hit you with their plasma. Nysath said in Duzell's mind as though it should be obvious. Duzell stood still, trying to figure out how he was supposed to go about saving the eggs. He didn't have a weapon and even if he had he was no good at fighting.
Nysath sighed. Watch them. Duzell watched the three other people leaping onto the back of the Ploads and forcing them to burp out the eggs. He laughed nervously. He was about to say something to Nysath when he felt the dragon's nose push into his back and force him onto the back of the nearest Pload. The Pload launched an egg and an uncomfortable amount of slime out of it's mouth. "Eww!" Duzell exclaimed. No time for that. Bring that egg to me. I will watch over it while you collect more. Stop wasting time. Each second you spend gawking is a second that those Ploads have to eat Sayder eggs. Duzell nodded and ran off towards the next Pload.
|
|
|
Post by Tidfe on Jun 1, 2014 10:05:45 GMT -8
Cain was not enjoying this ride. Nevermind that he never enjoyed flying anyway, but hanging upside down from the hands of his dragon was definitely not the way to go about it. "Why are we flying like this? Or a better question. Why are we flying at all? I could probably walk there perfectly fine. We are flying like this cause I doubt your weight alone will get the job done. Secondly, I'm not leaving your slow walking time being one of the factors in rescuing our food source. Sorry Cain, but you do walk sort of slow."I do no- ARGH!"
He wasn't even finished speaking before it became increasing clear why he was flying upside down. Dorth had just launched Cain like a missile at the nearest pload. Landing with an oomph and causing the pload to regurgitate its stomach contents left Cain a little disoriented to say the least. He barely had time to stand up and noticed that others were there before Dorth had grabbed him up again and was getting ready to launch him at another pload. She was going to apparently let the others safeguard any eggs that came out when Cain landed on them. For now, it was more important to get the eggs out of the bellies. Seeing a pload making a run for it, she threw Cain at it, the skeleton letting out a yell all the way until he landed on the pload.
"I really don't like this idea of yours," he said as he rolled off the foul smelling frog thing and scooped up the egg. Ha! Try and throw him now while he had...And that plan failed as Dorth neatly scooped him up again and winged her way over to Nysath. Nysath, will you be so kind as to watch the eggs for us please? I doubt Cain can make the ploads regurgitate without me throwing him. Not really waiting for a yes or a no, she took the egg from Cain, laid it at Nysath's feet and took back off into the air.
This time she threw him at a fairly big pload who threw up the eggs. Moving to scoop them up, Cain got a nasty surprise as the pload spit plasma at him. "Ouch!" Dancing away from the eggs, he sat down and rolled in the dirt. Stop drop and roll applied here...Right?
|
|
|
Post by angelique on Jun 4, 2014 5:18:24 GMT -8
Angelique manages to get a good grip on the pload she had grabbed by the legs and carries it to Mirath and drops it at her feet "Watch this thing...whatever it is"
She dives back into the fray, narrowly avoiding a kick from one of the creatures defending its eggs from the Ploads as she leaps onto another, gritting her teeth and hoping there will be a lake to bathe in to get the slime off her aftwards. She's actually pretty graceful in her movements despite her less than impressive arrival and after a few minutes it would become clear that she has experience handling animals, even if they probably looked nothing like what she is wrestling with now. At least she doesn't seem to mind getting down and dirty and rolling around on the ground trying to keep a grip on a slimy beast.
|
|
|
Post by greyheron on Jun 4, 2014 7:02:22 GMT -8
Civeth dived.
Xel'zhan just held on for dear life for a while there and waited until Civeth was close to the ground before he fell off the dragon's back.
And landed on a Pload.
He learned the "game" by watching the others for a moment. Sneak up on the Pload, pounce, make it throw up the eggs. Save the eggs. Right. Civeth was in a state of incoherent worry, probably because he was watching his food source get attacked at its base. He was also too busy Pload-hopping to say much of anything, but Xel was a quick enough study.
The tiefling stole an egg from the Pload that had broken his short fall and put it in his knapsack for lack of anywhere better to put it. And then, hands free, he sneaked up on another one and aimed a nasty sneak attack.
That was how he'd learned to fight, anyway, sneaking in from the shadows and taking his enemies by surprise from behind. Rogue's lot, that. Only here he was aiming to stun, not kill.
|
|
|
Post by Terris on Jun 4, 2014 19:09:13 GMT -8
Akanth returned from his mission and landed with a flourish, knocking over several ploads in the process, and making them regurtitate eggs. In his mouth he held several long vines which he then managed to toss in the direction of the humanoids, before flaming a pload just before it was able to spit plasma at him. The ampibian grunt-croaked, regurgitating an egg before falling over dead. The dragon look pleased with that, though not to much with the utter confusion going on in the saydar nesting grounds.
Stop them from getting NEAR the eggs, you fool, herd them away from the nesting site. Tie them up with the vines or something, dont just jump on them as they grab the eggs, they'll just eat more! the dragon sounded annoyed, and terris sighed and nodded.
He hopped onto the dragon's back to everyone could see him and whistled high.
"We have to get the ploads away from the nesting site! Grab them, and tie their legs with those vines over there so they cant escape, then get your dragons to tow them away." He called out when he had everyone's attention.
"I dont know what we will do with them then? I guess jump on them to make sure they don't have any more eggs hidden away, then have them released far enough away that they wont come back here?"
Akanth snorted his disgust. We'll flame the stupid things, teach them never to mess with our food source again.
Taurris gave the dragon a scathing look. "We will not be killing them, unless there is no other choice, Akanth." he growled. The dragon looked away, sullen and annoyed.
"Once the ploads are out of the way, we can then see what to do about the saydar situation"
|
|
|
Post by Arlene on Jun 6, 2014 11:10:57 GMT -8
Arlene refused to look down at the dragon's flight. "Don't take this the wrong way but I prefer to have both feet on the ground so just tell me when we get there?"
Her companion just huffed a bit rolling her shoulders before a gentle glide into the area seeing the ploads issue having been in contact with Akanth.
Arlene peeked from around her fingers at the lack of wind blowing in her face and rolls her eyes seeing the noxious fumes from the frogs sending some vines to bind and burp one. What a girl had to do some days...
|
|
|
Post by Amerlan on Jun 6, 2014 21:21:09 GMT -8
Running she jumped and caught one of the vines in her hand. As she was about to rope a Pload one stuck up behind her and almost spit its plasma on her. Smacking it on the head with her tail she stunned it giving her enough time to jump over it and onto its back. Nothing but slime came up, this one had obviously not eaten yet. She tied it up with a small bit of her vine before going back to her chase of the other Pload.
It was already a fair distance off, but she wasn't one to let prey go. Hissing and flicking her tail she ran after the Pload. This one had been greedy like the first one she expelled eggs from. She watched it gobble up another egg, the second one by her count. When she got near enough she roped it around a foreleg and brought it down. Swiftly hopping on its back she expelled the two eggs and tossed the to Seroth.
Without the warning Seroth only managed to catch on of the eggs. The other tumbled towards the ground and just as it was about to be smashed a pink tongue flicked out and gobbled it up. "Oh no you don't." Seroth growled and smashed his paw down on the Pload. The egg popped out, but he had used too much force and left the Pload limp and lifeless. Seroth didn't feel any regret that he had killed the small thing, but he did feel a small twinge of sadness. Digging a small hole he pushed the dead Pload in and buried it. He would have eaten it, but the plasma inside the Pload didn't appeal to his stomach. "Be careful with those eggs!" He scolded Amerlan.
He tail drooped a little, but she went on with her task. One small life for all the others was a fair enough price in her mind. Returning to the Pload she roped earlier she left it with Seroth and the four eggs he was already watching. "Look after this one, and don't kill it this time."
|
|
|
Post by Tidfe on Jun 6, 2014 22:12:56 GMT -8
It sounded like a fantastic idea to Cain as he stopped rolling. He would have to find a new spinal bone at some point, but that was later. The skeleton truly liked this plan of the knight's for one reason only. It kept Dorth from tossing him at the ploads again. He knew just the first pload to tie up too. Grabbing the vines, he made his way swiftly over to the pload that got him and pounced on him. Dorth was right in the fact that his weight didn't make the toad upchuck anything, but that didn't bother Cain as he swiftly tied the rope and dragged it back to the spot where Dorth landed. Let her deal with the upchucking. He could go round up ploads.
Stop crackling in your head with glee. I was enjoying tossing you at them. "Only cause you know that it won't kill me," he responded as he dropped the pload at her feet and went back into the fray with another vine. Huffing, Dorth stepped lightly on the pload and made it vomit up the eggs it had eaten. Separating the two, she tucked them where they would be safe and kept a claw on the captive plasma slinger beneath her. She did chuckle as a pload got the upper hand and was currently trying to eat Cain. It was funny to her, though she knew that if someone didn't step in soon, she would have too. Stomach acid hurt bones just as much as it did egg shells after all.
|
|
|
Post by greyheron on Jun 7, 2014 13:37:02 GMT -8
Vines, eh?
Xel could do that. He was...more adept than anyone who'd made any kind of honest living ought to be with ropes and knots, and vines could be like ropes under the circumstances. (For the record, Xel'zhan had never made an honest living at anything.)
The tiefling gathered up a supply of vines to tie up Ploads with and Civeth chivvied the creatures Xel's way. Xel sneak-attacked, stunned, and tied up the Ploads...and Civeth bullied them into puking up eggs.
Teamwork.
Novel concept, teamwork. Xel refused to admit he might like working with Civeth. The very thought bruised his pride, but the corner of his brain occupied by the dragon lit up with amusement underneath the now-waning panic.
Civeth, for his part, was having an easier time calming down now that there was a plan and he had something to do. It was less of a catastrophic attack on his food supply and more of a thing he could deal with now that there was something he could do about it.
Xel'zhan understood the feeling. Control was important to keeping calm.
And on that note, he continued to tie up Ploads and pile upchucked eggs off to one side so they didn't get smashed in the fracas.
|
|
|
Post by Terris on Jun 9, 2014 15:25:24 GMT -8
The rabble was beginning to quiet now, with most of the ploads subdued and the saydar eggs safe under the guard of the dragons. The atmosphere now, as the last of the ploads were rendered harmless was a far cry from the riot that many of the dragons and their riders had flown into hours before.
Good on you, you should feel accomplished...only....
Only, the adult saydar! The brooding males! Those that had not fled in the chaos, lay dead, or dying around the oasis, their large eyes open and glassy, their feathers singed with plasma. One or two were still alive, their chests heaving in their broken bodies, but it was clear there was nothing to be done to save them.
Akanth sighed, his heart heavy, and lumbered toward the suffering beasts, only stopping once, to glance at Terris. No words were needed, the knight followed obediently, and moved from bird to bird, snapping necks quickly and efficiently, before helping the dragon hoist the carcasses up onto his shoulders. Sad as it was, nothing would go to waste here. The birds were the dragons' food source, and they would find a way to store the excess.
With the last of the saydar stowed on the dragon's back, he took to the skies, circled lazily (being encumbered by so many dead saydar meant he was unable to do anything at speed), and took off toward the Shifting Nexus.
All the remaining saydar have fled, they will not return this season. You are going to have to do something about the eggs. The dragon said to the knight.
Terris sighed, scaled a large rock to gain height and whistled sharply to get the attention of all those gathered. Politeness be damned, it was the quickest way he knew to get all eyes on him when he needed them. Commanding men on the battlefield had taught him that.
"The saydar have all gone." he began, relaying what his dragon had told him. "Which means, these eggs are all orphans, and will need raising by human hands. In the scheme of things, this may not be such a bad thing though. We need to start thinking about our own survival, and domesticating these birds is probably a step in the right direction." he sighed, his eyes resting on his pack...which croaked miserably.
"As for the ploads..." he was interrupted as Akanth landed beside him and took over.
As for the ploads... he projected into the minds of all present. I think we should kill the lot of them, but I fear this is my anger talking. We do not really know what killing them all would do to the ecosystem, and it may harm more than it helps he stopped, his eyes finding Terris' who nodded his approval and continued on.
"I personally think we need to study the ploads. For one, they spit plasma, this energy may be useful in some way. Secondly, we need to learn more about them, to learn how to defend the saydar better against attacks, so, I am going to suggest everyone who wants one, takes one...and one only, and we can release the remainder of them somewhere...I don't really know where..."
There are swamplands not far from here, it is actually where the beasts belong, once the ploads you are keeping are chosen, the dragons will take the remaining creatures and dump them back where they belong Akanth finished, and Terris nodded his consent...though he was fairly sure the dragons' idea of dumping them in the swamp involved dropping them, still tethered from a great height.
"As for the saydar, I'll start handing out egg...." he stopped...movement out of the corner of his eye alerting him to the fact that very soon there would BE no eggs...as they were beginning to hatch...
Quickly humans! Go collect the eggs together, the saydar imprint on the first thing they see...oh...OH... the dragon stopped as two adorable striped chicks made themselves comfortable on one of his large paws.
"Akanth, I do believe you are a mother! Congratulations!" Terris said, laughing uncontrollably.
OOC: Challenge post 702 words (rabble, riot, raising)
OOC: Will be handing out babies and ploads in the next post....everyone will get between 1-5 saydar, completely random genetics, and one pload each.
|
|
|
Post by Tidfe on Jun 9, 2014 15:54:06 GMT -8
Cain wasn't paying any attention to anyone at the moment but the pload that currently had his foot in its mouth. "I need that you bloody...whatever the hell you are." He made a fist and hit the pload on the head. To little effect. Dorth laughed lightly before neatly separating Cain and pload. With the foot still in the creature's stomach. Apparently the pload didn't hate the taste of Cain's bones. Just the skeleton's luck. Better bring this one back with us. So we can...You know, get your foot. She made no effort to hide her laughter as Cain just gave her a deadpan look. Yes. Just for the foot. You can't fool him you wily dragon. He knew the real reason behind you wanting to keep the bugger. More power to you. Just keep it far far away from him was all he had to say on the matter.
Hoping over quickly to the eggs, he flopped down in the dirt to study his ankle while he waited for a few more eggs to hatch. Looks like the knight's dragon already had two of them which was good. Nothing like a dragon to care for what it was eventually going to eat. Sort of like a pig farmer raising up the bacon. Shaking his head, he turned around to watch Dorth gather up the ploads that weren't being claimed by anyone. "Should we have baby showers for the newly dubbed mothers?" His tone was the only thing to hint at the wry smile that would have been on his face if...He you know, had a face. Cain had long ago learned to try and place facial tone in his voice to help out the people he talked too. If they weren't trying to chop off his head first.
A gak came out of Cain as Dorth toss the skeleton's foot back at him. "A warning would have been nice!" No answer from the dragon as she gathered up all the ploads she could carry and headed off for the swamplands. No time like the present to get rid of the little buggers. Before they decided that the newly hatched saydar would be just as good to eat as the eggs had been. She didn't want to see what sort of thing came out of the pload's stomach if such a case did happen. Still grumbling of his dragon's toss, he watched the eggs as he stuck his ankle and leg back together. Wiggling his foot, he stood up and moved to start helping them gather up the eggs that hadn't started to hatch yet into the pile.
Wanted to make himself useful after all while he waited for more of the bird things to hatch and imprint on people. Stopping, he bent over laughing. "I'm gonna become a mama duck! That is really rich!" Cause ducks were the first creatures that popped into his head when he thought of imprinting and the absurdity of becoming almost like a duck had him in stitches. Shaking his head, he turned his attention back on the test and stood there patiently. Or as patiently as he could anyway.
Waiting for eggs to hatch was almost like waiting for a pot of water to boil. Almost.
Ooc: Challenge – 543 words (hate, taste, foot)
|
|