Greetings, Pinecones! Welcome to our April event, featuring another mess along with another way to hop on the metaplot. Though the event technically starts today, the first few days are pretty metaplot-free anyway, so there's no rush here. :)
Now, on to the write-up.
WAYWARD FALLS
ENVIRONMENT EVENT: Meltwater Flood EVENT DATE: April 13th - 23th(?)
It begins with a crack, as many alarming and unfortunate things tend to do. Anyone who's ever jumped a little too hard on a frozen river will recognize the sound in an instant: It's the sound of ice caving under pressure, and it echoes through the cozy wooded canyon just in time for the first trickle of water to drip over the face of the northern cliffs. Within the hour, tens of thousands of gallons of water are pouring over the cliff, a waterfall of meltwater finally freed from behind an icy dam.
And it doesn't stop. The woods flood. The north end of town floods. Power flickers. And then comes the debris.
Without any real warning, solid objects come careening over the cliffs, carried in by the runoff cascading down to the forest below. First, it's large rocks, almost boulders in their own right. Then, the debris starts to look a little more... man-made. What has the floodwater brought the little town of Wayward Pines? And possibly more importantly, will the waterfall ever cease?
IN CHARACTER
DON'T GO CHASING WATERFALLS
Yes. Yes it will. But we'll get there later in the write-up.
At midday on the 13th, when the sun is high overhead, the sound of a cracking sheet of ice echoes down into the canyon that houses the town of Wayward Pines. About a half-hour later, meltwater begins to cascade over the north face of the cliffs, thoroughly dousing the forest below. The water is frigid as only glacier water tends to be, warmed just barely by the sun and the journey to the top of the cliffs from whence it came. In fact, with it comes chunks of ice up to the size of a basketball, though only throughout the first day or so.
The flooding is mild at first, not even quite reaching the river, but what area it does reach quickly becomes a lesser swamp. By the 15th, it has reached the river, and by the the 16th, the river has begun to overflow its banks despite the construction crew's best efforts to shore them up.
And that's when things get dodgy.
A handful of things occur on April 17th:
The flooding reaches the town. Individuals who live in the affected areas (most notably the 1BR homes in the northeast corners of town) will find a foot and a half of water on the street in front of their homes, though their actual yards have been largely spared due to the height of the sidewalk, with just a couple of inches of water waiting once you step out your front door.
The waterfall now begins to carry large rocks over the edge of the cliffs, some as big as three feet in diameter. These aren't frequent, just once every few minutes, but they pose a danger to anyone who might come too close to the flooding's source.
Late in the morning, the screech of metal on rock can be heard from the east end of the northern cliffs. From the right vantage point on the south end of town, a large object can be spotted peeking just barely over the top of the cliffs at exactly the place the sound seems to have come from. Whatever it is seems to be diverting some of the water flow to the eastern cliffs instead.
By now, much of the wildlife too small to wade through a foot or more of floodwater can be seen charging through the streets of Wayward Pines in a mad dash toward the thus-far-dry western forest.
Clearly, things are starting to go to hell. Citizens are starting to panic, entire sections of town are without power, and the water creeps deeper into Wayward Pines by the day.
But things are just about to get interesting.
Around 3 AM on the 18th, a large crash sounds from the northeast, though it's nigh impossible to pinpoint the source in the dark of night. Interestingly enough, at around 6 AM the power returns to the darkened section of town, though every few minutes it gives an unsteady flicker. And once the sun rises over the cliffs, the source of the mysterious crash is abundantly obvious: Some sort of mysterious cylindrical wreckage hangs precariously halfway down the face of the cliff, barely visible through the renewed downpour of meltwater now that this piece of trash isn't blocking the water flow. Below it, two more chunks can be spotted high up in the trees, having fallen farther than the first but caught on the thick forest's upper canopy.
Debris from the wreckage can then be found at a number of locations in the northeastern corner of the canyon, though in order to reach the wreckage itself, you're going to have to climb...
Finally, late on the 18th, the downpour begins to slow down. By the end of the 19th, what was once a waterfall has calmed down to about the strength of an obscenely wide showerhead, and the floodwater finally begins to recede.
Things are a little bit damp in our lovely town for a few more days. The weather is warm and sunny, absolutely perfect to witness the wonders of evaporation in action, but a dwindling body of water still pools in the northern streets until the 20th. It'll take a few more days for the forest to dry out, but at the very least, the situation is finally under control.
OUT OF CHARACTER
THE BREAKDOWN
This event has two important features: The flood itself, and the debris hurtling over the cliffs. The former is essentially a free-for-all, do as much with the flood as you'd like. The debris, meanwhile, is our metaplot opportunity, and we'll be taking volunteers to discover it below. It's important to note that while there is plenty to be discovered in this month's metaplot, this series of investigation opportunities will not affect the outcome of the event (like it did in March's Outbreak).
You will find four top-levels below for your plotting and volunteering needs! Feel free to start utilizing them right away, though you can also do so at any point during the event.
Top-level #1 is for players to ask general questions of the mods. Unlike in last month's event, the metaplot investigation will not go here, as it involves less mystery-solving and requires fewer actual questions.
Top-level #2 is where you can volunteer your character for a number of metaplot discovery opportunities! Each opportunity will have a comment under this top-level. You're welcome to volunteer your character for multiple opportunities, provided they fit any necessary criteria. The volunteers will be RNGed on the 15th and will be guided through their segment from there. If your character is chosen but would bring their husband, bestie, roommate, or that stranger down the street, that's entirely fine. You can recruit however many people you'd like to join in the fun. :)
Top-level #3 is where the mods will work with the chosen volunteers on laying out exactly what they're about to discover. If you want to be kept apprised as things occur rather than waiting for the mod-posted summaries, this is the thread to track!
Top-level #4 is for players to plot with each other. Bring the details you receive in top-levels #1 and #3 to discuss them with your fellow players here, and plot out your next move. Conversely, if your character has nothing to do with investigating the debris but you'd like to plot out threads involving the flooding, that goes here too.
A catch-all log will go up sometime today, we're sorry for the brief delay!
There is a supply of sandbags that the city officials considered sufficient in the event of a flooding of the river itself...
...Which is to say, it's largely insufficient for a situation like this.
There are three sheds piled high with sandbags in key locations along the course of the river, two within a couple hundred feet of the river and one a bit closer to town. All of them, unfortunately, are probably pretty wet right now - but at least the sandbags are still good.
All in all, the supply is enough to entirely protect one or two of the buildings or noticeably decrease the depth of the water along one street.
Follow-up question: Should someone, not naming any names coughs apply a certain cold spell to the situation, how effective would that be in diverting the flood?
This is literally window dressing since there IS so much continuous water and it's not cold enough anymore weather-wise for ice to stick around all that long but it feels out of character to not use it.
It depends on how much of a cold spell that hypothetical someone could manage to work up. The water isn't moving with much pressure, but if he could form a decently thick section of ice, it could diver the flood a little for as long as it takes to melt.
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intothepines2017-04-12 09:24 pm
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...Which is to say, it's largely insufficient for a situation like this.
There are three sheds piled high with sandbags in key locations along the course of the river, two within a couple hundred feet of the river and one a bit closer to town. All of them, unfortunately, are probably pretty wet right now - but at least the sandbags are still good.
All in all, the supply is enough to entirely protect one or two of the buildings or noticeably decrease the depth of the water along one street.
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coughsapply a certain cold spell to the situation, how effective would that be in diverting the flood?This is literally window dressing since there IS so much continuous water and it's not cold enough anymore weather-wise for ice to stick around all that long but it feels out of character to not use it.
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