exploration mingle: CAPTIVITY

[riverviewmod]

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: exploration mingle: rescue mission!
when: June 15 - August 15
where: The River Structure
warnings: violence and/or torture; please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

captivity

One of the major and most highly-valued cultural concepts in Riverview is that of exploration, expansion. Especially now that, with the recent influx of new arrivals, as the portal kicks into high gear for reasons not entirely known, the Inhabited City, already comfortably full, is rapidly becoming overpopulated. With all the refugees from other worlds pouring in from day to day, the city's safe space and resources are being taxed to their breaking point.

Right now, exploration and expansion is key, and each month, the government has decided to focus on a particular objective, in order to unite citizens in expanding, securing, and supplying the city for everyone's benefit.

the story so far

Exploration & Expansion Progress Report ● The Guardians of the Deep ● What Lies Beneath ● Plotting & Questions

After some serious flooding at the banks of the river, the cause was discovered to be the Guardians of the Deep, creatures protecting a circular labyrinthine structure underneath the river. Residents of the city explored and mapped the structure, and dealt with a good portion of the traps and other dangers, until they found a little piece of history in the Central Chamber of the structure, revealing that it was inhabited by the first people to live on the moon.

While this news has been exciting scholars and historians in the city, something a little more pressing has been bothering the average citizen - an ever-increasing number of missing persons. People have simply been disappearing all over the city, and only now are residents starting to realize why...

how it works

● Phases: Each prompt is a different phase of the operation. Characters may partake in whichever part of the operation they choose, whether it is a large and prominent part, or a more of a backseat or support role. Characters may participate in as many phases as they wish.

● Completion: When next month's exploration mingle goes up, the mission featured on this exploration mingle will be considered complete, and game canon, providing the entry has 200+ comments on it.

● Entry Reward: The reward for completion of this month's exploration objective will be...well, the safe return of everyone who was kidnapped. And some sweet hurt/comfort.

● IMPORTANT NOTE: Having observed how the pacing of exploration mingles has been going and how they are tagged, I have noticed that posting one exploration mingle each month has been a little hectic, both plotwise and for me as a mod (writing three mingles a month has been tough!). I have decided to space them out a bit further, and post an exploration mingle once every two months, starting with this one - the next exploration mingle will be posted in August!

phase i: the abducted

People don't simply go missing, they don't disappear into thin air, they have to be somewhere. And while those who are missing people keep frantically searching, those who have been kidnapped are the only ones besides the kidnappers who do know where they are.

Abducted by a group who have taken up residence in the structure under the city after last month's exploration died down, the missing are trapped in the Central Chamber, in fear of the kidnappers. Their abductors are a group of people that is starting to slowly take on cultist tendencies, believing that the remaining spirits of the First People still live in the structure, that it is a temple, and that those First People need offerings of host bodies to inhabit so they can return and bring their wisdom and magic back to the moon. Things are getting a little hairy - there's no agreement among the kidnappers as to how 'intact' the host bodies have to be and whether or not the sacrifice is in the form of alive or dead captives. Even worse, some of the kidnappers are only with the group to enjoy having power over others and using it to hurt them.

Captives are held in the Central Chamber of the structure, with next to no amenities. Blankets, food, water, and other necessities are in short supply, and they are kept huddled together, constantly guarded and either restrained, wearing or in the presence of a power suppressor to keep them subdued. But the captives haven't lost hope - they are working on getting a message out, finding a way to contact the outside world so their loved ones can rescue them...

This prompt is to play out interactions among the captives before they are rescued, and may include violence or other character suffering. It is also to enact plotted plans for the abductees to find connections with the outside world to summon help.

phase ii: distraction and infiltration

Once would-be rescuers become aware of where the captives are being held, they start making plans to rescue them - whether someone they love has been taken, they're just a good person, or they just want to feel like a big damn hero, there are lots of people willing to take the plunge and jump into the rescue. But the cult group has been in control of the structure for a while now, they definitely have the home team advantage. They know the lay of the land and where the traps are, and have used some of them to their own advantage.

It's not going to be as easy as storming the castle.

There are two parts to this phase of the rescue: a distraction and an infiltration. Distractions are planned to draw as many of the kidnappers away from the hostages being held in the Central Chamber as possible, while those who are stealthily infiltrating will try to find another entrance into the chamber so they can surprise and surround the remaining kidnappers.

This prompt is to play out any plans for distraction and infiltration. If you have plotted something out on the plotting post, feel free to post up a header for specific groups for threading rather than an individual character top-level.

phase iii: the brawl and after

Distractions only last so long, unfortunately, and so eventually the whole thing is going to break down into a big fight. Rescuers versus kidnappers, on the kidnappers' home turf, and surrounded by traps left over from the First People, while pieces of stationary tech throw out auras and waves of power suppression. It's going to be a doozy of a fight, so prepare for an epic throwdown!

And once the dust settles, there's going to be a lot of injuries to tend to, a lot of people traumatized and hurt and frightened. A lot of hungry, suffering people will need to be transported out, given medical care, and brought supplies.

This prompt is to play out the final fight between the kidnapping cult and the rescuers, as well as anything in the aftermath of the fight.

phase iv: wildcard

Have an idea for a mission-adjacent plot, or want to make up an unexpected plot twist or problem and solve it with your character? Just write up a starter, and don't forget to give yourself props by submitting it for the Progress Report.

navigation
[Asterion - Environment Art: Ariadne's Forest by Nicolas Mendoza]

Comments

elizabeth weir | stargate atlantis | ota

[justbeginning]

phase i.

[ Putting aside the fear and confusion that comes hand-in-hand with the abduction, to say nothing for the chaos, when the dust settles and she's been dropped in place alongside the other captives, Elizabeth is more livid than anything. Like sure, she headbutted a cultist before they got her officially wrangled. This is a whole other ball game.

It's the quiet sort, anger that simmers more than it explodes. She's no scientist and she's no soldier, but she reads people fairly well and she's always had a knack for commanding attention. In a lot of these cases, she thinks, better that that attention falls on her than someone more openly frightened or more physically worn down. Or younger. And the current majority consensus seems to be that captives are needed alive, so.

Elizabeth has no qualms about maybe, occasionally (definitely, more than once), going out of her way to imply that these people are either unworthy of being host bodies for these First People, or they're cowards (maybe both) without ever outright... saying it. She has chill, but no fucks to give.

Which is all well and good right up to the point where anyone but her catches the short end of the consequences stick. Once that threshold gets crossed, she can't keep on the vocal prisoner train in any good conscience. She defaults to trying to be a source of some kind of stability and reason.

She can always manage calm. Not that a lot of people aren't managing calm once they get so far into barely-fed and sleep deprived territory.

In a really weird, tangential way, this turn to shitty luck is sort of true to the spirit of things back home. ]

phase iii.

[ And then come the obligatory rescue and post-rescue options! She's what the kids call a good rescuee and what the other kids call a very bad patient once she's been moved out.

Because consider: the vital nature of finding everyone she spent the past however long huddled together with in a big chamber. She's got this and she's fine and it's fine and she just wants to know people are okay. LET THE WOMAN HOBBLE.

Elizabeth will in fact be wrangled eventually. Woman cannot live by spite alone. In this specific case, I mean. ]

hewwo

[valr]

[Kara isn't necessarily here for Elizabeth, but she's here to help and when she spots the woman it isn't any skin off her nose to give her an assist. Especially not when one of the kidnappers seems to be making a beeline towards Elizabeth.

There's not quite room to swoop around in here, so Kara simply runs forward to put herself between the two. The kidnapper shoots some kind of electricity at her, but Kara just shakes it off with a little laugh. There's a split second where the man seems to realize he's thoroughly fucked, only brief, because then he's busy looking down at the sword sticking out of his sternum. He makes a sound like he's choking, before he falls.

Kara pulls the sword out, wipes it off on her already bloody jeans, then turns to Elizabeth.]

You okay?

woman with sword: peak rescue content

[justbeginning]

[ Maybe it's speaking to a bit easily distracted lately, but there's something so familiar about this. Oh, different planet, different galaxy, different people, different reason for having been held.

The electricity-proof woman with a sword is obviously particularly new. And the levels of bloodshed directly involved. Still.

Elizabeth needs like, a moment. The relatively long for the circumstances kind of moment. So that's about what, three seconds right now. Enough time to look down at the man and up at Kara again, wide-eyed. ]

Not really. [ She reaches down to straighten her clothes out a bit, compulsively. Crosses her arms. Gives her head a little shake. ] Almost worse. Thank you.

its swordlesbianopinions here to save the day

[valr]

[It takes Kara a moment; she also looks between Elizabeth and the dead man, as if this is a puzzle to be solved, before her expression softens just a little.]

Sorry.

[She lives with two other Asgardians and used to live with someone who eats hearts so violence is kind of just background noise at this point.

Kara sheaths the sword, just in a vague attempt to look less threatening.]

Are you hurt? I can get you to a medic.

[justbeginning]

[ She lifts the fingers of one hand in sort of a little wave. A "no need to apologize but thank you for putting the sword away" wave. If they don't have basic courtesy at a time like this, what do they have?

Right, though. Right. This is either a rescue or one hell of a wild coincidence, and the follow-up question verifies which one it is very nicely. ]

A lot of us are worse off. [ Which isn't exactly an answer. She'll be seeing a medic, she's sure. Just to be sure. Get her thoughts back in order. ] Um. I should talk to whoever's spearheading this rescue, make sure they had that in mind when they were coordinating. I'd like to see everyone out of here as soon as possible. I'm sure there'll be medical teams on standby--

[ When in doubt, do what you'd be doing at home, then swiftly remember that this isn't home and even if you knew 100% for sure how things operate here, you're not in the same position. Alternatively just get wicked lightheaded and realize you were planning on walking out of here at some point. Less than ideal. ]

Sorry, could I-- borrow your arm?

[valr]

[Kara's not stupid with technology; after their coffee she'd gone back and done an idle search for Elizabeth on the network, so she's not all that surprised to hear her try to immediately take charge.

But also like, gurl.

Kara steps forward immediately, holding out her arm for Elizabeth. There's not a lot to her, and she isn't dense like the other Asgardians, but she's sturdy as hell.]

No idea who's running this, I'm here for my sister.

[There's a shout from behind them, and without moving from Elizabeth's side, Kara turns her head to spot the cultist and in one quick movement she draws the gun from the back of her belt to fire two shots, downing them.

Swords are all well and good, but they're not a ranged weapon.]

phase iii

[dancingmd]

[Look, if Beverly can wrangle Worf into cooperating, she can certainly handle Elizabeth Weir. Maybe. She catches Elizabeth trying to hobble her way out of the makeshift medbay they've created in one of the rooms off the main chamber. Smoothly stepping in front of the other woman to block her access to the door, Beverly doesn't say anything, just crosses her arms and raises her eyebrows.]

[justbeginning]

[ Half of the trick to getting away with something is not getting caught in the first place. There are more than a few sets of vigilant eyes on patients after everything, but Elizabeth was sort of like.

Hey, Carson's probably busy with the more seriously injured and unwell, maybe my odds aren't too shabby.

The fact that she legitimately thought that, perhaps, should have told her she could actually do with just going back to sleep. But stubbornness is as stubbornness does. ]

Dr. Crusher. [ Elizabeth has all the air of someone who knows they're caught out doing something they know they possibly shouldn't be doing. ] I was hoping I'd meet you face-to-face under better circumstances.

[dancingmd]

Likewise, Dr. Weir.

[She gives Elizabeth a sympathetic smile. Though she has no intention of letting her leave, she gets it. There are other people that need help, reunions with loved ones to be had, reports to be given... but her patients' health is Beverly's number one priority.]

I'm sorry, but I don't believe Dr. Beckett has authorized your release.

[She makes a show of checking her records, even though she knows perfectly well he hasn't.]

[justbeginning]

[ Well. She knew it was a long shot the moment she stood up, but it was sure worth taking that shot. ]

For what it's worth, I wouldn't believe you if you said he had. I've known him long enough to know better.

[dancingmd]

[Beverly has to smile at that.]

I promise, we'll get you out of here as soon as we can. But in the meantime... is there anything I can help you with?

phase i let's get this adoption rolling

[volitaunt]

[ Poe just happens to be one of the people that gets himself beaten up before Elizabeth's shittalking stops. Mostly because he lays on his back and kicks one of the guards in the crotch when they try to go for a kid.

It hurts, but no worse than the other beatings he's taken this week. They pull hard on the tether that runs from his neck to his wrists, shackled behind his back, half-choking him while they kick the shit out of him, before tossing him back down in front of Elizabeth.

"You want unworthy? Here's unworthy."

The guard spits next to Poe's face and returns to his post.

Poe just kind of lays there for a minute, waiting for his vision to clear enough that he can see Elizabeth's face. He still has his cheek mashed against the temple floor. ]

Hi.

[justbeginning]

[ Elizabeth has had or supported bad ideas in her time. A fair few, really, if she's honest about it. She's only human, mistakes happen.

Maybe on the grand scale, one person suffering the consequences of her personal decision isn't as bad as it could be. It's not hundreds of lives or some far-reaching harebrained plan that ends up failing. It wasn't one of the kids.

Objectivity doesn't work. It wasn't a child because he drew that attention, and if he hadn't drawn it, it would have been. Noble, but it's her fault he was in a position where he had to make that decision (this time, anyway, I probably can't speak for all of Poe's individual YEET motions to date here). Is this technically really on the cultists for doing it? Yes. Does that work better than any other objectivity? Nah.

Stricken is a good word for the look on Elizabeth's face when Poe finally manages to focus on it. The anger is a work in progress. Present, but nowhere to go. Nowhere that she's willing to accept the price for.

She's just rocking the basic handcuffs look, as someone whose most potent offense move was that one headbutt, with no powers to speak of. So that's a decent enough range of motion to ball one hand into a fist and rest the other hand's fingertips between his shoulderblades for a second. There aren't a lot of comfort options down here. Also she's bad at bedside manner.

On the other hand, no pun intended, it'll probably be useful for helping him get back up. We're choosing battles today. ]

I'm sorry.

[volitaunt]

[ Honestly Poe's YEET meter for the past week or so registers at "dangerously high."

But anyway.

He flinches unintentionally at the contact, before relaxing under Elizabeth's hand. ] Not your fault. If they hadn't hit me now, they would have found a reason later.

[ He gets one knee under him and gets up, with her help, shoulders throbbing hard all over again from the pressure on his cuffs and the tether. He has to hope they get out of this soon, or that the hospital is really good with physical therapy.

Poe flashes Elizabeth a crooked grin. ] Besides, that was my act for the first couple of days.

[justbeginning]

[ Another day, another person who gets picked up off of the ground and cracks a grin.

She's not sure she needs him to verbalize the second half of that. Somehow there wasn't a doubt in her mind that he, at some point, said something smart-assed to a kidnapper. ]

I'm not much of a procrastinator, but I still think later is better than right now where getting hit is concerned.

[ This is up there as far as the wildest reasons she's ever been held captive go. They don't want some ransom or trade. They have a city full of fresh options if any of their current stock fade out on them. In a lot of ways, that makes these people more dangerous and unpredictable. Keeping prisoners in one piece can only stretch so far if they're more trouble than they're worth. Especially if it turns out this possession thing doesn't hold water. ]

And where mouthing off is concerned, apparently.

[ She should have known better. There was no way it was gonna end well. But consider: fuck these guys. ]

[volitaunt]

[ It's good that Poe isn't that kind of a strategic thinker. Or bad. Or both. It doesn't occur to him how replaceable they all are, even as more people get dragged in every day. It doesn't occur to him that anyone outside of the First Order would consider sentient beings to be replaceable. ]

I dunno, you seem to have a way with words.

[ He sits on the stone floor next to her in the most comfortable position he can find, which isn't very comfortable, but what can you do. ]

I'm Poe.

i,

[11calls]

[While Elizabeth has chill and a lack of fucks to give, Alex has no chill and a lot of fucks to give. Mostly, she plans to give them in the form of telling off the captors once they get too threatening or violent towards a certain person. She's angry and she's pale and she's got a bruise on her forehead that will probably scar, but she's alright, handling the lack of sleep better than most just because it's so familiar an old friend. Which of course means that she's awake enough to both scowl and talk smack about those who are holding them, especially when they move in to shake the other people awake. Following Elizabeth's lead, she too informs them how stupid their plans are, and how pathetic their excuse for a cult is and of course how she knows better cults that would kick their cults asses. Of course, that's probably something she shouldn't say in case it ever got back home, but Alex... is not good on her lack of chill.

At a quiet moment, Alex leans close to Elizabeth, and when she speaks it's very much in a stage sort of whisper, because she definitely wants them to hear her. More than that, there's a fierceness to the tone that doesn't often come from Alex.:]

These idiots have no idea how much trouble they're going to be in when our friends show up, do they? I swear the smartest thing they could possibly do would just be to give up now, isn't that right, Elizabeth? Then they might live through this.

[justbeginning]

[ It's nice to balance out on the chill to fucks given ratio. And having Alex on the same page has been about as helpful as anything can be in this situation. The solidarity that comes from going through the same things together, the space to observe and take stock of a few things.

Their captors won't negotiate. They don't seem to know how long this process they believe in will take, or what condition their captives need to be in for it. Not quite certain, not quite organized, disagreeing over basic issues. They have quick tempers and fragile egos.

And to think she thought she was joking when she told people politics have a way of following her. ]

At this point, I think it's a little too late to make any promises about that. Least of all for anyone who's never heard of the golden rule.

[ By the law of "treat others the way you'd like to be treated," these guys are screwed. ]

[11calls]

[For a minute, Alex didn't say anything in response to that whole golden rule bit, but her eyes lingered meaningfully on the injuries the people around them sustained. That they themselves were still wearing in various places on their bodies. No, Alex thought, if she showed up here and found people she cared about looking like this, her attitude wouldn't be forgiving in the slightest. Too much had happened already, and too much continued to happen. The fact that kids were involved had made Alex burn with anger, because taking adults was terrible enough.

The kids didn't deserve this. They shouldn't have to worry about this or the nightmares that would come from it, and just thinking about it makes her blood boil.]

The smartest thing. [Alex announced, as she stared at the nearest one again.] If they valued their lives was let the kids and the people who were hurt the most go before the rescue party shows up. It might save them.

[justbeginning]

[ At a certain point, you've just got to admire the spunk. ]

Not much you can do in a vessel with a broken leg. Least of all one that's also a malnourished child. [ There's some debate, she knows, about whether or not their captives need to be alive. And when it comes down to it, maybe there's no real use in pushing back, in arguing, in trying to negotiate some kind of release for the youngest and the worst off.

After all, if they decide on alive and a captive dies regardless, all they need to do is go back into town and pick up a fresh one.

But like so many other areas of life, anyone who can keep up the front can't afford to have doubts. (You mean you cannot afford to let them show, she remembers Teyla saying once. Feels like a long time ago now.

She misses her.)

Anyone down here feeling hopeless should feel like someone else at least has enough faith or hope to cover them. And if that's all they can try to give people, Elizabeth intends to give until she's hoarse. ]

I should know. The last time I was a vessel for someone, an injury would have put us both out of commission.

[11calls]

[Alex's DNA was probably made up of 46% spunk honestly. This was the woman who had gone to meet with a man who was basically their version of every rich evil villain with a plan to take over the world ever alone, and then had sat there and baited him, gone toe to toe with him, and basically threatened him back after he'd threatened her. Thomas Warren was creating actual demons and had kidnapped people who were important and had sent someone to record her sleeping. She wasn't going to back down from these idiots.

At least not until they threatened someone else normally. Alex was entirely wreckless with her own sense of self-preservation, but when it came to other people, she normally wasn't. It was a hard learned lesson that still haunted her nightmares.]

Seriously, especially a malnourished child who you've been beating the hell out for no reason. I know if I was a ghost and I got thrown into a body that was suddenly dehydrated, starving and hurting, I'd be pissed as hell.

[But Alex couldn't help but look to Elizabeth again, her story senses tingling. No, not even being kidnapped, held in tunnels or being threatened with you know being a host for possibly angry ghosts.]

You were a vessel before?

iii

[childofaxios]

[ Chyler is definitely on the lookout for familiar faces, and one of them just happens to be Doctor Elizabeth Weir, because Chyler is a good retriever and needs to bring the team doctor mom back to the team colonel dad.

She's in full tactical gear and carrying her P90 like she was born to it when she finds Elizabeth teetering around checking on people. Chyler has a moment of "of course she is," before she makes it to Dr. Weir's side. ]

Do you need help?

[ Don't front Elizabeth she knows you do. And she can offer you a shoulder sort of, since you're only like, four inches taller than her not a foot. ]

[justbeginning]

[ Chyler's retriever game simply cannot be beaten. Let no one question it.

Elizabeth isn't sure exactly what she expected to see when she glanced over. Logically, it's always been easy enough to draw the lines in terms of Chyler actively being a member of John's team here, missions included. She may not have a feel for any of the real specifics of what that entails here, but there are some standard conclusions to draw based on the missions he runs back home.

It's still really, really weird to look over and see a girl this young in full gear with a loaded weapon. Reality likes to throw a curveball now and again. Make even the expected unexpected in practice. She winds up doing sort of a double-take and a half. Like, there's no way she's hallucinating full tactical gear, but her brain is really insistent on taking another crack at it.

After a beat, once the question registers, Elizabeth immediately narrows her eyes. There's no malice in it. Just that old on-brand friendly wariness. ]

That depends on your definition of help. [ She's not falling for a loophole today, thank you very much. There's no "let me help you... walk back over to where you're supposed to be, get rekt" on her schedule right now. ]

[childofaxios]

I would offer a piggy-back ride, but I don't know if that's sustainable.

[ The words pop out before she thinks about them, which has been happening more and more lately. BLAME JOHN. Chyler clears her throat, trying to look serious and not horrified with herself. ]

Um. I don't think you should be walking around too much.

[justbeginning]

[ It's too late to take that sass back, young lady. Sass which is definitely true to the John Sheppard modus operandi. Elizabeth doesn't take offense.

The commitment to the straight face is kind of incredible, though. She cracks a quick smile in spite of herself. Offers a quick little hm. ]

Well. Arthur C. Clarke said, um. [ She's usually a lot faster sorting through her quotes. But you know what, she thinks she has a little leeway given the situation. ] "The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible."

[ So! Take that. ]

Now, I know this isn't home and I'm not in charge. I'll be happy to get back to resting. But all of us were down there together, and I'd like to know how we're doing first. Barely a venture into the impossible. More like a nudge. And if you'd like to keep me company, you're welcome to do that.

[ Shoutout to all the captives in this log living the Badly Injured Man Not Done Partying Yet headline today. ]