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

[rehandle]

[ It's true, you have to have a certain dedication to aesthetic to maintain that level of shabby-chic. Stephen affords him an upward glance, ripe with put-on doubt and the barest trace of satisfaction. Nice parry.

It's brief. A second later he's back to business, collecting up items with methodical precision. ]

M.D, Ph.D. Would you like to schedule an appointment?

[ The reply comes bland as anything, ego as absent in the delivery as it is present in the word choice. He used to enjoy rattling off his expertise. Now he's right in the middle of a rather forcible reminder that he no longer has anything to be smug about. ]

[acheless]

[ Nathan makes a noise. It could just as easily be a clearing of the throat as it is some sort of mild hum, like an understanding. Or consideration. ]

Got this rash on my back, if you're interested.

[ Are you? Are you. ]

You treating with magic or medicine?

[ It's a blunt question that comes at half a clip, and gets to the heart of it more directly than Nathan's been before. When it comes to spellwork, sore spot doesn't even cut it close. But there's something— a little easier, even if only peripherally, that there are people around him experiencing the same thing. Loss, lack. A bare bones life in an extraordinary time. ]

[rehandle]

[ He's as ready with an answer as he always is, but another question beats him to it. The wording catches his attention.

With magic or medicine?

He's heard all sorts of words for their powers thrown around here. That one's telling both for what it is and for the way that it's used. Given everything their conversation so far has revealed about his general nature, there's no sarcasm in its use. Stephen can state from direct personal experience that grown men with attitude problems don't mention magic without a healthy dose of disdain unless they're closely acquainted. ]

Medicine. As much as I wish I could say otherwise.

[ Wish speaks of longing, speaks of knowing. Not that healing was ever a prime focus of his magic - but healing powers aren't what's being mourned here. They're not the door he's opening. ]

[acheless]

[ Disdain's an emotion particularly reserved for everything else in his life. Talking about magic might as well still sit in the same place as all the parts of his existence from Before -- Before the Menagerie, Before the Falconry caught up with him, before, before. Before New Amsterdam, now.

Nathan's movements are methodical, mechanical. Economy of movement that gets more reinforced, now, as tension settles into his shoulders.

For a little while, there's no follow-up. Rustling of plastic packaging and bundles being put together. Nathan punctuates it with an abrupt, ]

Talked about this with a couple different people. [ The timber of his voice is pitched low, tense, but something about his frown turns thoughtful anyway. ] Doesn't really feel quite right here. Can't even light a fucking candle, like I'm a goddamn kid.

[rehandle]

I know.

[ No pretence, no show. There are very few things he'll speak openly about but there are even fewer people who can speak about this and understand. Certain things can't be kept at arms length.

Another pack is filled and grows the pile. Another started. ]

I've been here coming up on a year. When we first arrived, reaching for magic burned. I almost miss it.

[ At least it felt like something. The lack is worse. Absence, as though the air is empty. As though there was never a time he could pull reality through one dimension to the next and use it to make the impossible true. ]

[acheless]

[ A whole fucking year here. Nathan snorts. Or scoffs. There's a certain derision in it, but it's not directed at Stephen. This place, this shell of a life so far. ]

Would take that over nothing.

[ A tough but survivable amount of pain would at least be something. Thought's dangerous, of course. The what if on the other end of that scale: what if you could push past that, what if if you just tried hard enough, what if there could be something on the other side?

A muscle in Nathan's jaw jumps. He exhales, lightly. ]

Beginning to think we've all been relying on it a little too long. [ Magic, that is. Even locked away, locked out, Nathan's life had been imbued with the stuff. The Menagerie and its borders, the wire netting spread underneath and throughout its grounds to make it a deadzone; the power in being tethered to a place, of guardianship and stewardship, that kept him alive and his heart beating. In that life, chances were he'd never let himself cast again, but he could hold his palm over the proverbial fire. Feel the warmth, from time to time.

Now there's nothing. Not even a single strand of it. ]

[rehandle]

[ Yeah. Yeah, not so long ago so would he. Then came a short trip home that reminded him the cost of wonder and now the emptiness is barely any kind of fee to pay at all. There are worse silences. He's triggered greater loss.

For a while powerlessness was its own relief. Now he's outgrown that, too. Now his fingers itch for something they can't touch, aware every second of their futility. ]

Speak for yourself. I'm new.

[ A touch of play, but a reminder too: all worlds are not one, all magic not the same in its interpretation.

Which isn't to say he's wrong. Maybe they have all given magic more space than it ought to have taken up in their lives. Maybe he should've kept one foot in the real world, made an effort to retain some normalcy in the face of the extraordinary.

That's the stick of it though. Once you've felt it, there's no leaning away. ]

[acheless]

[ Another exhale, though this one sounds almost amused. Yeah, sure, the framework needs time to adjust to. But once you've felt it, there's no leaning away from it.

Quentin, Kyna. Strange, too, though Nathan's not about to think there isn't some softening of the blow afforded to him by a fucking medical degree. Not the same for his own studies in criminal justice, turns out. Likely never had the right temperament for it anyway. ]

Yeah.

[ A little rough, but acquiescing. His hands still, if only momentarily, so he can glance at Stephen sidelong. Brows fly up pointedly. ]

Where I'm from, we don't have a get-up.

[rehandle]

[ It earns him a little mischief in return. Expression tight with an attempt to smother his mild joy at the opportunity to flex his surreal road to magic, Stephen turns his head to catch Nathan's sidelong glance and raise it his own small challenge. ]

Where you're from I'm sure you also didn't spend months in a commune in Kathmandu training with a group of magical warrior monks to acquire the ability to reach across dimensions as your Introduction To Magic 101.

[ Did you? No? There you are, then.

Technically neither did he, a lot of that description is both appropriative and reductive, but any image it conjures is going to be pretty much on the nose so it'll do. ]

[acheless]

[ Right.

Nathan's expression goes through a complicated series of revisions, mostly by necessity. It's disbelief, and then irritation, and then disbelief and surprise, and then irritation. There's sort of a resting state to these things. A pregnant pause follows, and Nathan punctuates it with a clear: ]

No fucking shit.

[ He stares. At Stephen's face, not his shoes. It's a question even if it isn't delivered like one, in that their interactions so far mean he's not sure he believes that whole meditate your way to magic story. ]

Dimensions?

[ That's a question. A clear one, with a clear tone of what the fuck to support it. ]

[rehandle]

[ Aaaand there it is. There's no helping the lilt of a smirk this time - this must have been something like he looked, back when he first set foot into Kamar Taj. ]

Innumerable. We use them to draw energy and generate magic.

[ It's a very small answer to a very big question but he hasn't the tools at his disposal that the Ancient One had. The multiverse waits just out of reach.

For good measure, sedately and in confirmation: ]

No fucking shit.

[acheless]

Huh.

[ It's not that the story gets any more believable, or that the tip to Strange's expression lends any more credence to the story. It's that interrogating it is something Nathan isn't all that interested in doing, and hell. Makes sense as any other branch of magic. Not hard to imagine the way that might work, even if he has no language for it.

Hands come to a standstill. They're going to need more bandages. There's plenty of the rest, but the rhythm of activity's jarred by being short a category. Convenient timing, at least, so that Nathan can straighten up a fraction.

The streets are a mess out there. Sound of distant glass smashing pulls his attention long enough to glance out the window, but nothing else comes. ]

Think your yoga class at 7's gonna get cancelled.

[ It's a big city, after all. Big world, too. ]

[rehandle]

[ The far off sound catches Stephen's attention too and all humor drops. The comment goes left without reply as his throat takes on faint shades of blue, spare light filtered up from under his shirt.

He's got a couple of streets worth of range from here. Enough for an advance warning. Nothing imminent, just the edges of further-off jumble and panic, but Nathan's right. It won't be long. ]

We'll clear down for now. Send out what we have and get the rest out of the way.

[ Rounding the pool table, Stephen crouches to collect up some of the empty crates the supplies had arrived in and pass a couple back across for refilling. ]

Help me with these?

[ This time it's a request, even if he's not expecting no for an answer. ]

[acheless]

[ Doc's orders. Don't say no.

It's a(nother) convenient thing to refocus on, anyway, an active order with physical results. The easy way blue light bloomed over chest, near-instinctual. Ready at the drop of a hat. Maybe it's just how life is when you miss something, when you truly feel an absence of it -- that everything leftover reminds you of the shape of the ache, the hue and texture of it in your life.

Nathan thinks about asking, what it is Strange is stuck with now. What he can do.

Doesn't. Chooses, instead, to do exactly as Stephen asks, filling crates two parcels at a time. ]

Give it to me straight.

[ Abruptly. Like a final endnote, a last minute follow-up. ]

You think this place is gonna get through this? [ Tone conveys exactly how much reassurance Nathan is reaching for -- which is about zero. An honest appraisal, though. He'll take a stab at it. ]

[rehandle]

[ There's a hesitation as the question lands in the wake of the demand. He's not had it set to him so plainly. Once everything began, whether or not the fight could be won dulled to relative insignificance. We fight to survive until the fight is over. What else can we do?

You think this place is gonna get through this? ]

I can't tell you it's been through worse. It hasn't, not in recent history. But it's had a lot of recent reminders of how to survive the insurmountable.

[ So what's it going to be? He sweeps a heap of antiseptic wipes down into a crate and stops stalling. Nobody's asking him for precognition. He's being asked for his opinion. ]

If those things have finite numbers, it'll come out missing limbs but it'll come through. If they don't...

[ If they don't, if they're wading against an unrelenting tide of creatures consumed by their rage and intent to destroy anything in their path, it's a matter of time. He doesn't follow the thought through to its conclusion. There's no need. ]