meadowlarklogs | EVENT #010

Entry tags:

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

[Bellamy, by contrast, is completely tense. His eyes are locked onto Clarke, and when he realizes how closely she's watching, he slows down. Maybe moving quickly is making this worse, like playing cat and mouse.]

Clarke, [He tries, voice low and beseeching.] Clarke, listen to me. You're okay.

[He doesn't notice his chest glowing blue.]

Edited (CLAKE GRIFFIN) 2020-08-02 06:29 (UTC)

[No, Clarke isn't okay. But it's not like she's around to clearly answer that. If anything, the way her movements still is a sign of that. Her eyes fall to Bellamy's chest, momentarily transfixed. Her head cants to the side, crimped blonde hair tilting and tipping with the action, splaying wildly over her face at the same time.

If there was ever a time to get Murphy away, this might be it. Before she recovers.

If she recovers?]

[She will recover. Bellamy will make sure of it. But right now, Murphy is bleeding all over the pavement, and there's no telling how bad the injury is. Bellamy's focus has to be on him.

He tells himself it's not a betrayal when he takes Clarke's distraction as the opportunity it is and hauls Murphy upright, dragging him backwards towards the bar.]

[It's also the perfect timing for a certain Heda to realize her Skaikru are not where they're supposed to be and she gets concerned right away. She's been in and out of Red Wings, assisting others, but she has kept a close eye on all of them. Until now. It is a blessing they did not get far and she comes running into the alley when Bellamy's chest starts to glow.

Lexa takes very quick stock of the situation. Murphy, bleeding and injured, Bellamy trying to drag him away, and she feels the instant surge of panic when she realizes that it is Clarke transfixed into this creature. She pushes it down, freezing it over, and steps in front of Bellamy and Murphy.]

Get him inside. Lock the door.

[If she cannot handle this, Clarke may try to get inside as a beast and never forgive herself for the actions that beast takes.

Lexa does not try to reach Clarke's heart with words nor does she pull her sword from where it is sheathed. Instead she puts her hand up palm up, and a very small flame appears in front of it. Her chest glows the same as Bellamy's did a moment before.]

[Without context behind the action itself, someone might guess that even as a monster, Clarke is still fixated on Lexa herself. She had been rearing up to chase after Bellamy and Murphy when the flame flickered up before her. Her gaze glosses over again, and she stops, settling in before Lexa. Her head cants to the side, oddly shapen with the blonde hair extending from it.

She doesn't move yet, instead seeming to wait.]

[Lexa helped save Garak earlier using powers and the empathy bond, but that was because of a slug monster. She did not see him transformed the way Clarke was. Still, Clarke seems to be stopping the same way and watching the flame.]

Clarke.

[ She is new to this power so she cannot hold it forever, but it gets her close enough that she can reach out with her bare hand and touch Clarke's new oddly shaped head. She thinks this is skin enough contact to set off the empathy bond. It will have to be since the flame is going out.]

[The feeling that comes with Lexa's touch is—unpleasant, to say the least. She rekindles, making a monstrous sound to step out of her touch. It's going to be far more difficult than holding a flame and glowing. Her tail begins to twitch, ready to strike again.

Bellamy and Murphy may be gone, but Lexa's all but offered herself up now.]

[Lexa knew it was likely wishful thinking to make it that easy, but it was worth it to try. She doesn't know if cutting the tail would cut off a limb of Clarke's entirely, and she won't be able to take that risk. She wishes she was still holding the bat she took from Garak. There's too much risk with a sword.

The flame goes out, she decides not to focus on it too much in case she needs it later, and it won't help her much. Her sword is in her hand in a second and she slices it toward monster Clarke's legs, but sideways so it's the blunt side, the sharp edge not cutting but the force of it trying to throw her balance off.]

[Perhaps whoever designed creatures like this would've made sure they could hold themselves tall. Clarke is stronger than usual, in part because of the many-armed build and the tail. But even so, it's an awkward structure, an awkward way of keeping herself held tall.

She makes a sound as she tumbles back, tail whipping forward defensively to jab at Lexa at the same time.]

[Lexa kept an eye on the tail because she could tell it would be her real problem. It's dangerous and she's in no hurry to die again. It still manages to jab at her, her half-step back keeping from a deep puncture but there's a sting and a scratch.

She slashes at the tail to make it hurt but doesn't cut the end off, immediately jumping on top of the tumbled Clarke. It's not the safest route, it means her back is vulnerable, but she needs to try and get her back. Lexa tugs her shirt arms up entirely and puts all of her bare skin onto Clarke's neck and face; elbows, wrists, one full hand and the back of the other.]

Come back. [This is not gently said like before, this is in her Commander tone. The force of her determination in her feelings is only level with her flutter of fear. She has more skin so she leans her head down to press her forehead on Clarke's cheek.] Come back to me. [This in her own tongue.]

[Then it begins again. The burning sensation, the fact that she wants nothing more than to cause it to stop. The odd angle doesn't help, and the fact that she's being held in place isn't helping, either. Her tail tries to move, but Lexa's weight on her makes even that less mobile, especially given the way that she was thrown off further in the process. It tries to move, but twists painfully in the process.

More pain. And more sounds of pain, none of which sound the least bit like Clarke. So, at least there's that.

It's in the last few seconds that the monstrous Clarke manages to push up to throw Lexa off of her. Unfortunately, it's the same exact moment that the cure is applied, bringing peace to her mindset, with a strong sense of melancholy.

She can barely focus at first. She doesn't look to find Lexa yet.]

[It is distressing to hear the sound of pain coming from Clarke even if it barely sounds like her. Lexa swore never to hurt her again if she had the choice, but this is harm to save her. She holds on and grits her teeth as the glow is shared between them, as long as she can, but she is thrown successfully off Clarke just as she too feels a sudden sensation of peace.

She hits the wall on the opposite side of the alley hard, enough to bruise and ache, and that feeling of melancholy settles over her. She does not know why, for when she looks at Clarke, she sees she's no longer attacking so it might have worked.

Lexa's sword dropped when being kicked off and it clatters nearby. She doesn't go right for it, instead gingerly leaning against the wall to get herself to stand. She's banged up but not seriously injured.]

Clarke. It's me, Lexa. Can you hear me?

[It's not possible for Clarke to cry like this, in this changed body that doesn't belong to her. She has a sudden rush of dysmorphia at the way she feels, at the way her body is now covered in arms that don't belong to her. She struggles as her tail twitches and twists, and she hates the way she looks and feels.

She hates knowing what happened.

She hates knowing that Murphy could be nearly dead somewhere.

She hates that she hurt Lexa, that she actually accomplished that for once.

She recoils despite what Lexa had to say, stumbling back into shadows. She doesn't speak yet, if only because she knows her voice won't sound like her own. Not yet.]

[Lexa can't begin to imagine what it's like for her, and at the moment her priority is just knowing Clarke's in there. There's a melancholy she feels that she doesn't know much what to do with, it is not a type of emotion she understands. Clarke hasn't attacked her again, so she hopes it is better.

She waits, even if she feels impatient and anxious. Clarke is the one in danger, not her. Lexa finds her sword and sheaths it, stepping closer to the shadows where Clarke is hiding but not fully into them. Emotional comfort is not one of her strong suits, but she has to try, for Clarke.]

Bellamy brought Murphy inside where there's help. I will check on him in a few minutes. His wound did not look mortal. [And Lexa is an expert when it comes to mortal wounds, so she sounds confident. Even if she is somewhat concerned. Her priority is Clarke.]

You don't need to hide from me, Clarke.

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