Bass shakes the pavement at the Detroit festival, bright lights washing over food trucks, folding chairs, and a packed crowd moving with the music. Thadeus Jovanović stands near the stage with Elizabeth Bathory, Elias, and Marla, close enough to feel the speakers pounding in their chests.
For one rare minute, nobody is running, hiding, or arguing. Elias half-smiles at something Marla shows him on her phone, and Elizabeth watches the crowd with guarded calm.
Then a knot of agitators slams into the front edge of the audience. A trash can topples. Someone shouts. Hands grab at cables draped along the stage lip.
The Agitator
Yeah, keep cheering while they load us up with lies. Shut it down!
The nearest dancers recoil, and a ripple of panic starts pressing outward through the crowd. The stage lights flicker as bodies surge toward the exits and toward the platform at the same time.
Marla Brewer
Thadeus, they are going for the sound rig!
Elias
If they pull those cables, somebody is going to get hurt!
Elizabeth shifts her stance, eyes on the crush building between the agitators and the stage, waiting for Thadeus to move.
✓ Quest Accepted
Restore order to the music festival
“Thadeus directs Elias and Marla to sound rig, while he directs Elizabeth to relieve the growing crowd crush. Thadeus places himself in front of the group of agitators, attempting to intimidate them. With a stoic look, Thadeus shouts, "Back off, now! Take up your issues with your politicians, not these innocent people. Or you can try getting past me, if you dare." Thadeus gives a semi-dark grin to the agitators.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +3)
Thadeus steps into the crush and plants his sword hand low, voice carrying over the bass. The agitators hesitate, then stop pushing as a few heads in the front row turn to listen.
The Agitator
You really think a stance like that fixes anything?
The pressure at the stage lip loosens. Two people at the edge of the crowd back away, and the nearest cable stays clear of the floor.
Marla Brewer
I can cut the music for thirty seconds and reroute the monitors. Eli, with me.
Elias
Right, right. I am going, before somebody yanks something loose.
Elizabeth turns from the crowd crush and steps in beside the wavering front line, not forcing them, just making room with her presence.
Elizabeth Bathory
Some of them came to be heard, not to break things. Let them breathe, and they usually remember themselves.
The agitators trade glances. One lowers their hands, and another startles everyone by pointing back toward the parking lanes instead of the stage. A clear escape route opens through the noise.
“Thadeus goes up to the leading voice of the agitators, lifting him in the air by his shirt collar, "Let me be clearer, you and your group of troublemakers will leave now before she makes you leave." Thadeus points over to Elizabeth, then continues with the agitator, "She doesn't play nice." Elizabeth grins at the agitator, sharing with him, "I really don't. Please try me." Thadeus releases the agitator, who scrambles away from the festival, causing the rest of the agitators to follow suit. With the trouble gone, the music festival starts up again, the crowd returning to partying and dancing.”
SUCCESS (Superb Strength, rolled +0)
Thadeus closes the distance, catches the lead agitator by the shirt, and hauls him up off his feet. The man's eyes go wide, his boots kicking air as the nearby onlookers flinch back.
Thadeus Jovanović
Let me be clear, you and your troublemakers leave now before she makes you leave. She doesn't play nice.
Elizabeth Bathory
I really don't. Please, try me.
Thadeus drops him. The agitator stumbles, then turns and bolts toward the exit lane, panic breaking the last of his nerve.
The others peel away after him, slipping between barricades instead of pressing toward the stage. Marla keeps one hand on the mixer, already bringing the track back up.
Elias
Okay, okay, they are going. I am staying on the rig.
The beat swells back through the speakers, and the front rows loosen into dancing bodies and raised phones. The open lane begins to disappear into the moving crowd.
Quest Complete
Restore order to the music festival
New Gift: Crowd Control Specialist
“With the threat gone, Thadeus and Elizabeth return to dancing with one another, while Marla and Elias take over as DJs for the event. Everyone is enjoying the moment.”
With the lane cleared, the tension drains into music again. Thadeus and Elizabeth step back into the flow of the dance, while Marla and Elias keep the board alive, trading the booth like it has always belonged to them.
Marla Brewer
There. Back on beat. Tell me that did not need a hero edit.
Elias
I am calling that a very successful recovery. Also, I am never doing this alone.
Elizabeth Bathory
Dancing is a better use of the night than threats, I think.
Around them, phones sway in the air and the crowd settles into a looser rhythm, the festival finding its pulse again.