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Spring was a busy time, especially for the insects, and one such colony of carpenter ants, along the not-so-poorly lit outskirts of the Dark Forest, could display this truth no more poignantly. In a winding line, they march, their powerful jaws laden with leaves, bark, and foodstuffs, all stoically carried back to their honorable Queen, and the ant hill, a sizeable mound of granules and ant spit, nestled at the feet of a decaying tree, literally teems with the little soldiers carrying out their duties.
Watching the ants greedily, five spiders dangle from a nearby branch. Not small spiders, to be sure, the ancient orb weavers have lived many years together; strange for more than just their large size, the siblings were most peculiar for the fact that they had never separated from one another in all their lives. Sharing each other’s skills and webs had served them well, the five firmly of the belief that they were the last and only survivors of their clutch; winter, however, has left them quite hungry (giant spiders need a lot of food, you see). Staring down at the ant colony, and seeing a plentiful supply of bug juice crawling about, the elder spiders also see a lot of their death down there.
Truth was, the very same thing that kept them dangling so close, is what kept them waiting for the feast at all. One or two ants against a fist sized orb weaver would be nothing, but the whole mound? That was a different story. So, the five watch from their safe locations, and ponder how best to go about capturing their much needed prey.
"Obscure their scent trail," clicks and whispers the most observant brother, who had noticed that rain left ants lost, without a path to follow. Two of the female siblings agree, but the other male chatters his dissent, one segmented leg slowly waving in the direction of the first speaker.
"No!" he disagrees, turning, instead, to their superior size and strength, "we should dig a trench about the hillock, and fill it with water."
All three of the females shudder and clack their fangs in horror. No orb weaver liked water, much less went out their way to touch it!
"It is not safe to be close or wet," states the only sibling of the five to have remained still and silent all this time, gesturing out to the gathering Helovians with one of her limbs, and drawing many multitudes of black, spidery eyes in the direction of the crowd, "perhaps we should just ask them for help?"
[ This is an EARTH MAGIC DROP. Participants will have 72 hours to reply to each round. Please include any previous, Earth Magic refusals, or the number of extra VOTG rolls you would like to use with your post.
The orb weaver spiders are looking for a way to eat up the carpenter ants, and would like your help! You may use one of the methods suggested by the siblings, or create your own. The spiders will help by making webs, but will not go near the anthill, for fear of their safety. Have fun and good luck! ]
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[DROP] The Greedy and the Needy [EARTH MAGIC DROP]
