meadowlarklogs | EVENT #010

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EVENT #010

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ A quick little glance at that pause, he's sharp enough to catch it but if he feels any particular way it doesn't make it to his face or body language.

It's alright. They are what they are, he's not threatened by anything. ]

I've heard about it. God only knows what it's secreting to make that happen, but I don't think that's the kind of thing we're gonna be able to find out any time soon. Not with all the labs shut down.

[ He's kind of hoping for some more immediate information that might help, but. Maybe they're just screwed. ]

( Same, he feels. But, he doesn't want to be disrespectful. It's obviously early in the morning and this clearly happened earlier than early.

Middle of the night to be exact. )

Either secreting, or -- what it latches on to. If there's anything residual... in me.

( He shivers, setting the scalpel down and stepping back. )

Your lab's shut down right now? Is the power still going in and out?

[Kyna is not thinking about slugs or secretions. Kyna is thinking about the bat that is currently about to push its way through one of the makeshift barricades someone has put up to block the mole tunnels burrowed into the safehouse. They're holding, on and off, but the monsters keep managing to figure out a way around them, or through them.

So, when Kyna skids into the room, she's looking for help. She was hoping it would be anyone but these two.]

Shit.

[What a greeting. Kyna hesitates for a moment, as though ready to take her chances on her own. Then, as though bracing herself for something disgusting, she sucks it up.]

I need help.

[ He pulls a face along with Will's thought - slug residue in the brain, wonder what the long term consequences of that are? Probably ought to get some kind of brain scan or something, make sure it isn't harmful.

Too bad there's no such thing as preventative care in a monster apocalypse.

Which is what this is.

Again.

Okay, yeah, no time to fucking think about that right now, particularly with one familiar face sweeping in. It makes his brain do that stutter-dread thing and his stomach sink a little bit.

I need help.

Knee-jerk like the earthquake all over again. Damn it. Yeah, no, maybe this can be deferred. He glances over at Will for a second before looking back. ]

What's up?

What's happening outside?

( Help with the monsters. Or, someone is injured because of the monsters. Kyna probably wouldn't want help from Ian - maybe not even William - but she asks.

William still owes her an in person apology for completely fucking up, for doing what he'd wanted to do. For being brotherly and intrusive.

Yeah, for all of that. )

[Kyna shoots Ian a wary look, but focuses mostly on William. She's still mad at him, but he's easier to talk to, somehow.]

There's a bat trying to get in through one of those tunnels.

[ Yep, okay, that's fine. He's not even here, he's wallpaper. If he could fade into the bushes like that Homer meme right now he'd be doing it already.

He'd happily keep his mouth shut, too, and turn all of his attention back on a slug that warrants exactly no attention, except--

He shoots a look at Will, and then back to her.

There's an idea a'hatching here, guys. ]

...Just one bat?

[ Because... they can probably catch one bat, right? ]

Just --

( He'd scoff, but, he glances back down at their dead slug. )

How big are the bats?

Uh. I didn't measure.

[Very helpful, Kyna. But she stretches her arms out, trying to approximate.]

Not including wingspan.

[So, big.]

[ She stretches her arms out, and it's probably concerning that he's not thinking about physical lethality but rather the approximate circumference of a net, if he were to make one...

Actually, a bat would be perfect for what they need. They could do blind testing — literally — to see what their sensory perception is like. What they're capable of honing in on without eyes.

Can't tunnel out like the moles. Far easier to contain than Jenna Jamesons or nightmare fuel spider men.

Since it's hard to look at Kyna right now, he looks to Will instead. ]

We need to catch that fucking bat.

( The fact that Jenna Jamesons is an actual term they're all using, it's like the height of heteronormativity. )

Catch it. With what? Catch it?

[Her eyes widen at Ian's suggestion, and it's immediately obvious that she agrees. She hates that she agrees, and so she's still talking to William and ignoring Ian, but there it is.]

We totally have to catch it. We can make a net or something.

[ He snaps his fingers and points at her, she gets it. Which he'd say if he weren't actively avoiding her, so that's about all of the recognition he can give.

And anyway, now that there's a plan forming he's got everything he needs to make eye contact with exactly no one and start working with that obsessive, borderline manic energy he gets when he's swept up in an exciting project.

They've got material. Bedding, metal.

Not so long ago Nathan Drake gave him a notebook, and he tugs it out to start rapidly sketching a hex pattern with a few sides deliberately shaded.

There will have to be interconnecting metal pieces branching out among the netting in order to allow the electricity to carry all the way through.

Which he's going to need to ask Kyna to generate. But. He's not there yet. ]

A net.

( What. What is he hearing right now? He moves closer to Ian, looking over his shoulder at the quickly drawn sketch. )

Have you ever seen him go A Beautiful Mind?

God, don't feed his ego.

[Ian has never struck her as obnoxiously egotistical, actually. Aware of how smart he is, sure, but she never feels like he's being condescending. Right now she's mad at him, though, so she doesn't care how accurate she's being.]

[ Make no mistake, he definitely has an ego. He can also be a condescending asshole, but that's usually about emotional defense and not science.

He's tuning it out anyway, who knows how long that fucking bat's gonna be out there? Especially if one of those hero types swoops in with an AK 47 and a pair of aviators. ]

I need- ah-

[ He says, unhelpfully gesturing at... literally nothing while he looks for words to come out. Brain no do so good trying to think and then think about words at the same time. Give him a second. ]

I need a blanket and all the silverware.

... A what.

( Very A Beautiful Mind. He just waits, looks to Kyna and forgets that she dislikes him right now, too, until she locks eyes with him and looks back at Ian.

Why the three of them? Why right now? )

Let's ... empty the drawers.

( He leaves Kyna in charge of which blanket - or multiple blankets - as William quickly charges out of the room. He tugs out the silverware drawer completely bringing the entire thing in his hands. )

[Kyna blows a raspberry, helpfully letting both of them know how she feels about Ian's vagueness. Still, she does what he asks and grabs a few sheets, then drops them unceremoniously in front of him.

She also tries to catch his eye, just to see if he'll squirm a little.]

[ He does absolutely no squirming, because he does no eye catching back. You can fight him, Kyna, he's investing his entire brain into this because it's the healthiest coping mechanism, change his mind meme.

Sheets go to the floor, and Ian follows suit. Knees hit the concrete, and he tugs a box cutter but make it future out of his tool bag. When Will gets back, he'll vaguely gesture to the ground for all that silverware, too.

He finally uses his people words when he starts cutting the sheets into strips. ]

If you just throw any standard net over that thing it's gonna tear its way out in, like, a second. Probably even a metal mesh, because we don't have anything on hand here that can be both thin and strong at the same time. Steel will probably hold it if it's thick enough, I have the framework for a cage already, but... catching it in the first place? We're not exactly gonna be able to throw fucking sheet metal over it.

[ A dip of his shoulder. ]

But, it doesn't have to hold for long if we knock it unconscious, or stun it. Rig together a net with something conductive woven in, then hit it with a good kick of electricity...

[ Then he looks at Kyna. Because. You know. That would be you. Sorry. ]

( Is it dramatic to tip the drawer and pour the contents out onto the ground? Probably, but, Will does, lowering himself to his knees, too. )

She's - you're -- you zap? Is that your power?

[Kyna shoots Ian a betrayed look back. Her "zapping" feels mostly like adding insult to injury—a pale imitation of what she could do with her magic back home. It's the barest taste of what she actually wants. Her response to William's question is begrudging.]

Sort of. It's not... I can't control it. I have to go intangible first, and you guys can't be in the way.

[ His lips press together at that sharp betrayed expression, but the rest of his face stays impassive. He keeps a pretty cool countenance during tense moments like this, it's gonna stick around until it absolutely can't anymore.

He makes quick work of the sheet, lengthy rips, shredding it methodically. ]

Which is perfect, actually.

[ He continues on steadily, dropping his eyes back down. ]

If we can trick it into going after you, you can go intangible. We can throw the net, you can zap it when it faceplants into the concrete.

[ Simple. Clean. Whether or not that pans out in practice is another matter, but at least the plan's uncomplicated. ]

( Speaking as someone who's planning on not being in the way, William is fine with that. Not that he understands. She goes incorporeal? He just looks between Kyna and Ian and back. He'd even help if he could. )

Woah, make Kyna bait?

[Ah, Ian is kind of making her bait, isn't he? Normally, she wouldn't care. She'd jump at it, in fact, but coming from Ian after he's been avoiding her, it bothers her in an irrational way.]

It's fine. I can do it.

[It comes out impatient. But shit, at least this is something she can do.]

Would you rather do it?

[ He directs at Will with an eyebrow arched. Out of all of them — and let's face it, it will have to be one of them — Kyna makes logical sense. She can't get hurt, she has to be right up on it to zap it. Unless it's a fruit bat, which he doubts, it's pretty much their only play here. ]

EVENT #010

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