EVENT #010

[larkers]

WHO: Everyone
WHERE: New Amsterdam and any other megacity the Displaced happen to be in/travel to!
WHEN: May 28, 2512
WHAT: Golden-eyed monsters stream into New Amsterdam and other megacities the world over.
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Violence, death, body horror, mind control, and transformation.

> EVENT #010

It starts in the middle of the night, when most everyone should be fast asleep in their beds, whether they're still taking up a cot in the safehouse or staying in their own apartment. One moment it's quiet, with most of the rest of the city having also turned in for the night, and then in the next? It isn't.

There will be mass confusion as the scope of the situation becomes clear. Monsters stream out onto the streets, thundering up the stairs of a train station, skittering out of construction sites, or climbing up the walls. Some of them fly. Others slither. Others run, loping forward with only one goal in mind: to find something to sink their teeth or claws into and to leave destruction in their wake at every turn. They are a horde, a swarm, a teeming mass of creatures that have no intention of stopping. All of them have eyes or bodies that shine gold and wherever they go, they seem to leave decay. Concrete turns black and porous where they step; plants wither and die.

There is no real preparing for an attack of this scale. New Amsterdam will awaken as the sound of these monsters crashing down on cars or bursting through storefronts or into homes forces people to run screaming from their dwellings or places of work. There is no discrimination in who these beasts might target, and no discernable pattern in where they go.

All that one can really tell is that they seem to want to spread out. They're constantly on the move, leaping from victim to victim, and they're relentless. No one knows why they've come, where they're come from, or what will make them stop. At least for now, the only option seems to be to cut down their numbers. It's time to fight the horde.

The first night will be utter chaos as everyone reacts to the monsters' sudden appearance, but by the morning hours news reports will start streaming in. This is not only happening in New Amsterdam, or wherever else a Displaced might be staying, but seemingly everywhere. Some cities seem harder hit than others, but practically every megacity is overrun with the creatures.

With no way of knowing who might have unleashed the monsters, all of these cities have essentially been turned into battlefields. Not many civilians are prepared to fight for their lives, and it will take a mobilization effort from the police, Morningstar, the Displaced, and anyone else who's willing to take up arms in order to survive.

◉ As a note, this attack starts simultaneously in multiple cities. While it's the middle of the night in New Amsterdam, the monsters will appear at other times of the day in other parts of the world depending on the timezone!

> BESTIARY

So as to not make this post overly long, we have compiled all of the monster descriptions into a Google doc here for everyone's reference!

> (NOT SO) SAFEHOUSE

For those Displaced who stay at (or spend any time in) the safehouse under the hoverbike shop or the Red Wings bar, they may become aware of the presence of the monsters sooner than others, due to the fact that at least a few of the giant mole monsters will end up burrowing up through the concrete basements to wreak havoc. The screeching noise of steel claws tearing through the floor will be sure to wake up even the deepest of sleepers.

This won't just be an occurrence on the first night of the attack, either. Unless something is done to deter them, tunnels leading straight into the safehouses will continue to be created, allowing even other types of monsters to find their way through (the smaller ones, that is). Where exactly they're coming from won't be entirely clear, though it's a safe bet to assume that they must have originated in the cave system somehow.

Suffice to say that El won't be happy about the safehouse being compromised in this way, though this isn't a possibility that ze or anyone else could have really prepared for. While ze can't do much to physically help with containing the invasion of the monsters, ze will offer whatever resources ze can—though Morningstar is going to be busy in plenty of other locations, as well, and they only have so many resources.

The Red Wings, being a Displaced-operated location, will also be in need of assistance, especially if it's meant to be a point of safety and a hub for handing out supplies. Speaking of—

> RED WINGS HQ

As things begin to deteriorate, Clarke Griffin and Stephen Strange sink their resources into Red Wings, adapting it into a base of operations for the Displaced. Clarke also called in PRESERVE to set up a checkpoint here, too, and anyone—from the Displaced to civilians—will be able to seek aid here. (Of course, Red Wings will be just one of a few locations throughout the city where they attempt to set up shop, but Red Wings may prove to be more fortified thanks to the talents of the Displaced.) Civilians will not have access to Red Wings' safehouse, however. That's still something that Clarke and Stephen want to keep under wraps, for now.

In the bar proper, there will be medical aid, supplies, and even weapons for those who can use them. During rare moments of downtime, the gang at Red Wings will also work on reconnaissance missions to find safe spots throughout the city to provide much needed protection and safety for the people of New Amsterdam. This task may be much easier said than done. Gathering intel on the monsters is a high priority, too, and for anyone who tries to capture a monster to learn more about them, the basement might be a good place to hold them. If the Displaced are going to be able to fight back, they need to know exactly what it is they're fighting.

However, the truth of the matter is that this attack happened quickly, and in the middle of the night to boot. As much as the group at Red Wings tries, resources are stretched thin, and they didn't have time to prepare as much as they wanted to. Supplies need to be rationed, bandages and stitches used for wounds that really need them, and if you're not a great shot, it might be best to let someone with more training take that gun you're eyeing.

More than anything, despite the difficulty, this is a way for the Displaced to help out as many people as they can, and a way for them to cement their humanitarian efforts and affect the population's opinion of them. The citizens of New Amsterdam are sick of this cycle of destruction, and are just waiting to be empowered. Now's the time to teach them to fight back and help them protect their city.

Red Wings' safehouse underground will be damaged by burrowing monsters as well, and will need protection. The bar itself will escape relatively unscathed.

> INVESTIGATING / GATES

Maybe the best way of dealing with the monsters isn't violence at all. Maybe there's a more strategic way to deal with this.

The monsters will be moving from city to city via the gates, just like the Displaced do. There might be a way to keep them from spreading, or at least slow them down, by shutting down the gate network. Of course, with the mag trains shutting down, getting back home could be an issue. One option is the delivery network of hover trucks. They'll still be running to get supplies from city to city, but their batteries don't run indefinitely, so these will be relatively local trips only. No getting from New Tokyo back to New Amsterdam with this method, unfortunately, and convincing a driver to let you hitch a ride might be a challenge, but it's doable.

Of course, there's also the question of where these things are coming from. Intrepid characters might be able to track them back to their nests, which are tucked away in wildly different places depending on the city. In New Amsterdam, they might be in the caves below the city. In other places, they might not be in the city proper at all, but just outside of it. It's important to keep in mind that the nests are far away from any of the action taking place elsewhere. Tracking these origin points may provide some answers, but the cost would be less involvement in the crisis taking place.

And then there's the matter of the monsters themselves. How can you fight an enemy you know nothing about? For those determined or crafty enough, capturing them might be an option, although this will take some creativity. Once these creatures are captured, they'll need to be kept contained, and kept alive. Just because they're monstrous doesn't mean they don't have to eat, after all, and some will need special environmental considerations as well, such as the mind control slugs.

What happens after that is up to the Displaced. Is dissecting them the best bet? Their internal anatomy won't be wildly different from most "normal" animals, with the exception of some creatures who have strange appendages or the like. Still, this might give the Displaced a better idea of how they operate and what their weak spots are. Sending samples to a lab is another possibility, if the Displaced can figure out how to safely store those samples. After all, the world is in a crisis, and no one is running tests at the moment.

All monsters, though, seem drawn to the blue light. When a Displaced uses a power or activates the empathy bond, the creatures will lock onto it, utterly transfixed, and if this is done enough times, that gold glow of theirs will intensify. What does it all mean? Maybe figuring that out will be a pathway to stopping their attacks.

> PITCHING IN

While all of this is going on, it certainly won't be just the Displaced who are heading out into the streets to try and stem the flow of the monster attack. These creatures are certainly not holding back, and no matter how much work might be put in, their numbers are overwhelming. Plenty of people will end up dead as a result, ripped to shreds or dragged off somewhere to be eaten. Yet, for some reason, these monsters are not as vicious toward the Displaced. They'll engage them in a fight and injure them, but they never go so far as dealing a fatal blow.

Seeing how that's not the case for the rest of the populace throughout the world, however, some groups and organizations will be rising up to do their part.

Police departments will be mobilizing in every megacity to put the monsters down, and while they are armed, it's not on the same level as the UNA. They also don't have any sort of training that's prepared them to fight monsters, but they'll still be putting their lives on the line to put a dent in the monsters' onslaught. When it comes to enforcing regular law and order, they certainly won't have the bandwidth for anything like that. Then again, most people won't be in any position to take advantage and commit crimes either, given the chaos that will be a constant everywhere.

Morningstar will also be jumping into action around the world. The New Amsterdam branch will be most likely to work alongside the Displaced and share some of their resources, particularly with those who are signed up as official agents or those who've supported them in the past. In cities like New Prague and New Beijing where the Displaced have made some contact with Morningstar before, they'll also be open to working with the Displaced. However, their resources are by no means robust. Morningstar is an organized rebel group, but they're hardly an official army in any sense of the word. They might be able to hand out a weapon here or there and they have a safehouse set up in almost every city, but beyond that, they'll mainly be getting boots on the ground to help with the fighting.

UNA soldiers who have been left without any sort of purpose or guidance will now have an opportunity to put some of that training to use. Their involvement will be much more scattered, though in some cases small groups of these soldiers who used to work in units together will reconnect in their effort to fight off the horde. However, having been cut off from the UNA in an official capacity, they won't have much in the way of gear or weapons. They're still formidable fighters, though, and now might be the perfect time to reach out and make a connection with some of them.

Mercenaries belonging to various different outfits, depending on what city they're based in, will also be joining the cause. Whether they're acting out of a basic desire to survive the attacks or if they're actually being paid by someone to go out there and risk their lives will be less clear, but they're some of the best-equipped fighters (other than the police). They also won't really find much reason to protest any of the Displaced pitching in to fight with them. The more firepower, the better, right?

A group of regulars from the New Amsterdam fighting rings will be rising up to add their fuel to the monster-fighting fire, as encouraged by Hawke and whoever else might know them well enough to reach out. Given that some of these people have illegal mods to enhance their strength or cybernetic attachments that can do impressive amounts of damage, some of them might hold their own against the monsters. Hell, some of them might even ask the Displaced to demonstrate some of their powers if they end up fighting together, as word of their abilities has become more known among their ranks. Either way, they'll be jumping into the fray with quite a bit of gusto.

PRESERVE will be involved on the other end of these efforts and will be doing their best to tend to the wounded and the dead, along with finding shelter and safe spots for people to barricade themselves from the attacks. It's not like the grand majority of civilians could stand a chance against these monsters, after all, yet not all of them can rely on their homes to be safe enough to stay in. They'll be quick to accept an offer of Displaced help, as they'll be doing their best to try and drag the recently dead to hospitals to get them put into medi-units before they're too late. Along with what's set up at Red Wings, they'll also be cobbling together other relief spots throughout the city for taking care of wounded and offering up what supplies they have (food and water, medical supplies, etc).

And what are the corporations doing in all of this? Well, suffice to say, mainly just panicking. Unsurprisingly, they're not much help during a crisis like this, with most of the super-rich opting to hide away in whatever highly secure bunkers they might have. Too bad that these bunkers might not prove so secure in the face of these attacks. Could that prove to be an opportunity if someone went looking?

> FINAL OOC NOES

Please refer to the OOC EVENT POST for all OOC info, including suggestions for directions on how to engage with the event. Given the spread out nature of this event, as well as the amount of additional details provided here, please direct all questions to our QUESTIONS thread below. This is, naturally, a huge event in terms of scale, and so we're certain there are aspects of it we haven't covered and questions that have yet to be answered. We do encourage that all of our players use the event planning post for any additional ideas and for touching base!

Please do not begin to thread out any aftermath until AUGUST 8, 2020, which is when we will put up the aftermath log and OOC post. If this date changes, we will provide a gamewide update as needed! As a note, the August calendar will be posted alongside the aftermath!

As a reminder, there is one power level up available for this event, granted for a thread of at least 5 log/action comments containing your character utilizing their power in some way during the event itself. They will need to reach the 5 comments required by SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 to be eligible. Submission will be handled on the wrap up post.

Our Activity Check will be posted AUGUST 1 at 12 AM UTC. It will run for seven days and close on AUGUST 8 at 12 AM UTC.

Have fun and fight some monsters! Or … whatever else you might do with them. 😉😏 Your secret's safe with us. 😙

> NAVIGATION

Comments

Quentin Coldwater | The Magicians | OTA

[filloryfanatic]

Out and About in the City

Quentin knows that he is no good in an actual fight, but he decides that sneaking people around and to safer places is an option. He sets off into New Amsterdam keeping low and secret. He can be found all over the city, sometimes leading civilians, sometimes in hiding as monsters are close by and he can't get across to them, and occasionally in the nearest fortified positions where people are hiding that isn't Red Wings. All his years of not wanting to be seen out of awkwardness are really paying off!

Because he cannot fight he has to run if anything sees him, and he could probably use a rescue from all kinds of beasts. As time goes on he's more tired and dirty, but determined to keep going.

Trapped, SOS - Use of Powers

At one point, Quentin is with a collection of scared people in a small cafe (well, former cafe) that isn't going to last much longer. He knows there's no way to get out and he's not sure who to message quickly for a rescue, or if anyone will be able to see the network quick enough, so he hides in the bathroom since he knows there's a mirror there. He stares into the mirror and focuses, dirt on his face and blood that isn't his on his brow.

"Can you hear me? We need help." Quentin isn't sure it's working until his chest starts to glow. He focuses on the mirrors he knows of in the Red Wings bathroom and in the safehouses. Anyone looking in the mirror will suddenly see Quentin's face, as if he should be standing where they are. "Help!"

Red Wings Resting

Quentin may be in heroic help mode, but he eventually drops, as any normal person would. He manages not to in fact faint, because that would be embarrassing, but he sits down and gets some water and food, looking like a wreck. He manages to get a little sleep in naps but otherwise tries to help out around with people, making certain other people get enough water and helping where he can.

Closed - Escape with Queliot!

[filloryfanatic]

It happens in the night and the first sounds of shrieks and noise from below gets Quentin to sit up fast, right out of sleep, rubbing at his eyes. It sounds so far away but he can feel it in a weird way, this eerie sensation of trouble in the distance. He goes to the window and glances down. They're far enough up that it's not very conspicuous, and as he's watching, a fucking ogre appears in the dark below him. At least he thinks it is, it's giant.

He wakes Eliot up and for a time all the can do is watch from the window, but the building itself is sturdy and there's alerts telling everyone to stay inside. As the sun starts to rise, Quentin runs his hands through his hair and glances over at Eliot, that set in his jaw that means he's made up his mind about something.

"We have to go to Red Wings." It's not staying put in a safe location, but at least it's not crazy far. It just ... might end up being a little far if they have to dodge creatures. He hears screams below and looks to Eliot. He won't leave him there, but he's someone who runs toward the screams to help and not away from it. You know, like sane people.

[endlessflask]

Quentin doesn't have to work hard to wake Eliot up. The screams did most of the job, and Quentin getting out of bed did the rest.

Eliot sort of wishes he could have stayed asleep.

"Jesus."

He mutters it mostly to himself, and soon Quentin's proposing they leave. Eliot's sure his face gives away most of his unease about the idea. Leave? And go down on the street with all of that without any magic to help them? Eliot wouldn't exactly call himself a coward but he knows when he has the lower hand in a fight.

He also knows Quentin isn't going to stay put. Eliot just got Quentin back and the idea of losing him isn't really high on his list of things to do, so he's resigned to the fact that, yes, they're going to do this.

"Let me just put on actual clothes real fast."

If he dies, he wants to be well dressed for it.

[filloryfanatic]

Quentin sees the alarm in Eliot and he feels bad, because they are pretty safe up here. But if he stays there hearing screams all day he'll lose his mind. It's not that Q lacks fear; far from it. He's scared of a lot of things, and this puts Eliot in danger's way too. But eventually they might be in trouble here anyway. It's better to be around people who can actually fight.

They just have to get there.

"Okay." Quentin sighs and crosses over to him, reaching up to cup his face and draw him in for a kiss. He'll never get over the ease in which he can have this. His anxiety and nerves can be felt between their empathy bond, but also his resolve. When the kiss breaks he goes back down on his heels (El's so tall), but keeps his hands where they are.

"It's your fault for falling in love with me. Really bad decision."

[endlessflask]

"Yeah. I know."

Actually, falling in love with Quentin was the best thing Eliot could have ever done, but he doesn't need to give Quentin the satisfaction of hearing that. Not right now. What Eliot does need is to kiss Quentin again, even if it means leaning down a bit, because he needs to feel that firm resolve and braveness that resonates out of the other man.

Quentin makes him brave.

"Okay. Let's go save the day or something. Maybe because we don't have magic, we won't fuck it up so bad this time."

[filloryfanatic]

Quentin may be a lot of things right then, but he was exuding determination and certainty so he doesn't mind sharing it with Eliot. The kiss helps ground him too, remember that he is about to have to live in the moment and not think twenty steps ahead. There's no way they're going to get through this if Quentin's thinking about what's already going on at Red Wings or how everyone is. He has to be present.

"I'm pretty sure whatever's down there is fucking up things plenty." Quentin puts his relic into his pocket, the only thing that goes absolutely everywhere with him in this city, and glances out the window again. "I know like three different routes there. Let's hope one of them works." He's not sure the straight forward one is going to be smart.

As soon as they go outside, they can get a better look at the disaster outside. The building itself seems secure but the streets are madness. Quentin immediately grabs Eliot and tugs him down, moving them over to the wall. Bat creatures with no faces swoop by, drawn to loud noises down the road. There's quaking earth under their feet like there's something living under there, but it goes away. Right in front of them, a giant boar goes charging through debris, its thick hide covered in porcupine quills, and an alarm goes off.

"Oh my god I feel like we're in Lord of the Rings right now."

[endlessflask]

"All I remember about Lord of The Rings was that Orlando Bloom really contributed to my sexual awakening."

Eliot has to joke to hide how much he doesn't like this. He's out of his depth, even if he did still have his magic. A part of him wonders if maybe he isn't just dreaming very, very vividly.

"Okay. You need to let me in on the plan. If there even is a plan."

[filloryfanatic]

"Really, I'm more of an Aragorn guy myself."

Tall, dark-haired man with a little scruff? He'd be looking significantly at Eliot right then because guess what Q has a type. It's Aragorn or Eowyn. But they have bigger things to worry about. Much bigger.

His heart pounds as his mind reels from the facts, and it takes him a few seconds to reply to Eliot because his brain is churning. He can probably see it too, the wheels turning. "The plan is to get from here to Red Wings." It's normally just about a fifteen-minute walk. Fifteen minutes in this may be pushing it.

Quentin sees two people hiding behind cars across the street but their backs are exposed. He stands up and tries to wave at them. "It's a safer spot here, come here." So his plans moderately changed. The duo seem to be frozen in spot, unable to move. He might need some help convincing them!

[endlessflask]

"Great. Totally easy."

Not.

Eliot inhales, and he's about to propose a route or at least some sort of plan when Quentin's distracted by the two civilians. He reminds himself this isn't a moment to be struck by how selfless and good Quentin is, and instead decides to try and be helpful.

"It's not that far - Here. We'll meet you half way, right, Q?" He's not going to give Quentin much of a choice. Anyway, right now there doesn't seem to be any sort of monster coming up on them, so Eliot (cautiously) takes a few steps into the street. He holds out his arms in what he hopes is a welcoming and reassuring way. "See? You're totally okay. You're absolutely fine right now."

[filloryfanatic]

Quentin isn't capable of seeing people in trouble without getting involved. This is going to be his entire purpose during the fight eventually. He can't fight with weapons or guns, but he can run pretty well.

"Right!" He says, smiling at Eliot. He knows that Eliot might think he's the brave one, but his boyfriend has done his fair share of selfless and brave choices over time. He became High King for crying out loud, even if there were good reasons not to be. He keeps an eye out for anyone attacking but backs Eliot up.

The two people look over at Eliot and seem to be listening closely to him. Quentin puts a hand on his back supportively, glancing to the skies just in case. "Keep talking, you've got this." Eliot is powerful when he wants to be, and Q is more than happy to be his personal cheerleader.

Powers!

[northerndragon]

Jon isn’t much for standing around staring in mirrors. They aren’t so common in Westeros: lords and ladies may have panels of polished metal, but most smallfolk don’t, and while he has used a small one to shave and tie back his hair, he’s not used to seeing his own face so often or so clearly as he does here in New Amsterdam.

But he catches sight of himself as he’s on his way out of the bathroom in Red Wings, eyes diverted by a scratch on his face — and then he realizes that he’s not looking at himself anymore.

“Quentin?”

His first instinct, finding Coldwater looking at him, is to glance over his shoulder with a frown. He’s still frowning when he looks back at the mirror. But there’s urgency in his friend’s face and voice, so Jon answers in kind.

“All right. I’ll come help you. But tell me who ‘we’ is, and where.”

Bless you for this.

[filloryfanatic]

Quentin's still getting used to it on his end. He hopes no one in this place goes looking for him right then, because he's glowing, but when Jon comes into view it's a wave of relief. He understands fundamentally how awkward it is to just appear in bathroom mirrors so he's been trying to memorize all reflective surfaces for the future. But for now this is all he has!

"Jon!" So glad. "I'm caught in a cafe in the business district, um, not far from that French bistro? I was trying to help people." It's the only thing Quentin felt like he could really do and he was not feeling like much use at Red Wings. It's not very smart for someone with no fighting skills though.

"We've got some of those scorpion monsters outside, they're trying to bash in the glass."

[northerndragon]

At that, a very tired expression comes over Jon's face: more scorpion monsters? Not even the first he's fought today.

They are not really so hard to kill: it's a matter of cutting off their arms and their tails. The reach of the arms and tails means there's more risk of them being cut, more length making an easier target, but the number of them and the fact that you don't want the ends of any of those appendages touching you negates some of those potential advantages. Like as not, they may punch through the glass before he gets there.

"On my way. Get the people away from the glass, if you can. Get them where you are, or into the kitchen. Better walls between them and the beasts."

[filloryfanatic]

"Thank you!" Quentin's naked relief is obvious. "Please be careful." He legit has no way of really helping so he's hoping that Jon can handle it or bring help. His face disappears from the mirror that information given, because he immediately moves back into the cafe.

He follows Jon's instructions and gets everyone into the kitchen. It's a small space but most of them fit. They can still hear the banging. "It's okay, stay here, it's okay." Quentin's not so sure it is in fact okay but he's trying. Unlike the others he stays out of the kitchen so he can watch the progress, on his hands and knees under where they deliver coffee to watch the scorpion monsters attack. The glass starts to splinter.

Quentin grabs a broom and a carving knife, neither of which will do absolutely anything in a fight with them, but it's a last resort thing.

[northerndragon]

There is no safer place to send the people, and no time to send them there, and no time to muster help: everyone who isn’t already out fighting something is taking a needed rest.

The journey isn’t long. Still, when Jon reaches the place, much of the glass has been smashed. No blood that he can see: that’s good. It means no one who had been in the cafe has been killed, unless they’re bleeding out on the floor.

One scorpion picking through the debris.

Where are the others?

The creature hasn’t noticed him yet. If he can get the tail before it does —

What follows doesn’t last long. It ends with the creature dead, even more than smashed chairs and glass for the cafe’s unfortunate owner to clean up, and a blue-glowing Jon tapping on the kitchen door with some urgency.

“It’s me. Let me in. —Everyone else has to stay where they are.”

[filloryfanatic]

Quentin watches the fight and it's impressive that what he thought was an unbeatable creature is very beatable in the hands of someone super strong. He moves back toward the others to reassure them that help was there and they were, for real!, going to be okay.

He opens the kitchen door and steps out to see Jon. Quentin impulsively hugs him. None of their skin touches but seriously he's been scared and exhausted and he's filled with relief. It's a quick hug, and he pulls away after only a few seconds.

"Thank you I was totally sure we were going to die."

[northerndragon]

Jon is surprised to be hugged, but he relaxes and pats Quentin on the back. The fight had not been hard enough for long enough to make it hard to shake off the haze of battle.

“You’re not going to die. None of you.”

I cannot promise this, he thinks, though he has spoken loudly enough for all of those sheltering to hear it. I should not. This is happening almost every moment, all over the city. But these creatures won’t have them today.

Then, there’s the bad news.

“How many of them were there, trying to smash the glass?”

Quentin had implied that there was more than one monster: Jon is sure of it. But he has only killed one.

[filloryfanatic]

"There were three." Quentin is so relieved that he doesn't really think through the fact he only saw one get defeated, he thought maybe the other two left or ran away. The others in the kitchen do seem to feel better with Jon's confirmation.

He looks at Jon and steps to the side with him, lowering his voice. "They could've left ...." But he's not sure he believes that. It seems more likely they smartly moved around the building to see if they could attack from another angle. Quentin hears the skittering of feet as if he put that thought into being.

"Oh god I jinxed us."

[northerndragon]

At the first bit — “there were three” — Jon gives Quentin a significant look: that means there are almost certainly more. His exasperation with the sheer numbers of the monsters keeps his expression from being as grim as it could be. So far, most of the smaller ones are easier to fight than a group of wights would be, but that doesn’t make them easy.

“You didn’t curse us.” He’s pretty sure that’s what jinx means. “The one I killed is the one that was unlucky, to be on his own. But it will be harder for me to fight two of them at once — it’s hard enough to keep away from one tail while you’re fighting them. Is there anything you can do?”

[filloryfanatic]

Yep, he gets that look, and he shares it. Quentin's only seen the really big monsters travel on their own, like the ogres. They stomp down the street without fear. Otherwise they seem to all hunt in packs. Quentin glances toward where the others are hiding, terrified, and his look at Jon is resigned and guilty.

"No, the mirror thing is my power, it's all I can do right now." He's a person who will practice and practice until he's an expert on it, but for now, this is as good as he's gotten it to. "I don't know how to fight." So he's bitter all over again at his helplessness. "Maybe we should just make a run for it. If we glow up when they get close to us, they freeze, sort of."

[northerndragon]

There's a way they can share powers, but he's not sure how to make it happen fast enough that it isn't a stupid choice. So he thinks on it for a moment, brow furrowed. What else can they do? What can Quentin do, with the ability to cast his face into a mirror, nothing else?

"There are shining things all over this place -- metal. Steel. Can you use it to distract them, make them think you're where you're not?"

It's the best thing he can think of. They need to leave this room before the crashing gets close to the door -- before they lose the chance to be in position to fight the creatures when the creatures return.

[filloryfanatic]

"Yes! I can do that." He thinks, he's new to this, he's never done it before. Quentin's brain churns. "And when I use my power I'll glow so if I reflect around it may make all of them hesitate!" He hasn't even considered how that is a possibility. Maybe it isn't as useless as he thinks.

It might be too dangerous but to hell with it. It's not like it's the first time he's die. Quentin opens the door to peek outside. His eyes wander quickly over all the surfaces he sees and something locks in his mind whether he knows it or not. His power knows where to go. "Okay, you open the door. Let's see if it works."

Quentin focuses his mind on doing exactly as Jon says. He uses one surface to project himself upon all the others, showing up in different parts of the area, his chest glowing. The other versions of him look scared and yell, same as him, but it definitely throws the monsters all off. They try to attack other ones without knowing it's fake. Perfect for Jon to jump in.

[northerndragon]

Jon closes his eyes and inhales, deep and slow, mouth a grim line.

Two of these things... he can handle two. There is no aid other than the mirror-Quentins, but that also means there’s no one he has to look out for. These creatures might have been made for fighting, or they might only be looking for easy kills, easy meals. His experience so far is that they’re a little of both, but they are not White Walkers. Maybe not even Styr or Karl Tanner. He can take them, even without help.

It’s better that he has help.

He opens his eyes, gives Quentin a firm nod, and steps through the door just before the first of the two monsters drops into the street in front of the cafe and makes its way in through the broken window.

Even with aid, it’s not easy. He can call upon his strength now — it doesn’t just arrive when it will, but when he wills it — and he does so as he swings Longclaw. The sword cuts easily, but he wants to be sure the things die on it the first time, that they lose their tails when he cuts them. What he doesn’t want is for one to get to him while he’s occupied with the other.

The second one drops to the ground as he’s fighting the first, and begins to edge around the side, keeping its distance until it can move in where his guard is down. Quentin’s distractions work, in that both of the beasts seem unsettled, their golden eyes flicking here and there, their moves halting enough to cause them to make fatal mistakes.

And Jon — if his power were a little greater, if he could do things like Rey can, he could keep the one on the side distant from him by sending a table at it. But he can’t.

He kills the second and third monsters nonetheless. He even manages to avoid injury. Still, by the time the third is dead, the floor is slick with the butchery, a severed head and two severed tails, and Jon is winded.

He steps around the blood on the floor and knocks on the door to the kitchen.

“I think that was the last of them. Come out and see: this victory is yours as much as mine.”

[filloryfanatic]

Quentin keeps trying to distract them using his powers and he hears the fighting outside, crossing his fingers in hope somehow Jon can come out of this alive. He's seen people in their group who have taken on monsters since this started, and Jon's always held himself with the type of confidence that comes from knowing how to survive. He is unhappy to know he can't help him physically, but that's not changeable now.

Quentin comes out first and whistles in amazement at it, smiling over at Jon. "Dude, you're badass." The right person to have caught on that mirror, jeez. There are still monsters between them here and to safety, but if he can do this on his own, they have a good shot. Some of that fear and weight on Q's shoulders are released.

While Quentin is trying his best to keep the two of them out of view of the others, it's possible one or two sets of eyes at least see some of the glow on him before, and when the kitchen door opens, they can all see the carnage of what one man did on his own. That's not really something most solitary fighters can handle. But everyone is shaken and probably not jumping to conclusions yet.

"I'd hug you if you weren't gross from the monsters, no offense, so am I kind of. But seriously, we would be dead." A few of the civilians shakenly also thank him.