riverviewlogs | exploration mingle: CAPTIVITY

Entry tags:

exploration mingle: CAPTIVITY

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]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah. It's me.

[ The confusion doesn't surprise him much. With the way most people have been treated down here, he's impressed she didn't just freak out on him, and actually recognized him. He breathes in mild relief, offering her a small smile. ]

Ready to get out of here or what?

(She may have freaked out if she weren't so tired. Everything is soft and hazy around the edges, dulling her reaction times. For a moment she sits in silence as if assessing something, then tentatively tries to raise her shoulder. Her face twists in obvious discomfort; no dice.)

Could you give me a hand?

(She offers the one on her good side.)

I'll give you two, if you don't mind.

[ He smiles just barely at her, getting her good arm in a solid hold, his other hand resting on her back for support as he pulls her up to her feet. He wouldn't be surprised if she couldn't stay upright, so he's ready to catch her weight if she happens to lose her balance. ]

(This is a strange first for Lucretia, who has never really felt old before. Obviously she is old, very, but she's used to feeling eternal; being helped to stand is practically foreign. Jim is patient though, hauls her to her feet.

She rests her hand on his shoulder to steady herself.)

Thank you. Do you think you could get this off? (She's holding out her arm to him; there's a leather cuff with smooth metal clasp clamped around her wrist, almost biting into the skin.)

[ He looks down at the cuff around her wrist, frowning as he examines the clasp. ] Loki's been helping me with these.

[ Freezing these things and just breaking them off does make them fairly easy to get rid of. Jim has an alternative, but... ]

I can use my phaser, but it gets hot. It might hurt a little. Are you okay with that?

Yes.

(Her answer is automatic: she needs the cuff off now, no matter what. She holds her hand out steady in front of him, hand tensing into a fist.)

I'll be fine. Please, do whatever it takes.

[ The complete lack of hesitance puts him more at ease. He takes a deep breath and nods, then aims his phaser at one of her cuffs.

It starts to heat up little by little. She'll eventually feel it, and it'll likely burn her skin some, but he tries to be quick. Once the bracelet seems more malleable or at least easier to break, he sets the phaser down and uses both hands to try and tear it off of her wrist. ]

(Ooh yep, that smarts! She doesn't want to make him feel guilty for the necessary evil though so she determinedly keeps a straight face, flinching only once when her skin starts to burn. As he puts the phaser down to tear at the cuff, Lucretia sucks in a little hiss of breath, clenching her hand in a fist.

Just when she's thinking dismally that he'll probably have to reheat the stupid thing and try again, the leather abruptly tears, the metal snapping, creating enough give that Lucretia can pull it off. She yanks her wrist in the opposite direction and it slowly comes off with a bit of tugging.

Lucretia flexes her wrist, rubbing it lightly, ignoring the sting of pain that accompanies this.)

Thank you.

(But when she tries to cast something, the spell... doesn't work. The block is still there. Lucretia looks sharply at the cuff in Jim's hand; she was right! It is some kind of dispelling charm.) Destroy it!

[ Jim doesn't immediately realize what she's doing. Her relief gives way to frustration quickly, and he stares down at the cuff when she tells him to destroy it. Lucretia's reasonable, though. If she's telling him to destroy it, then she must have a very good reason. ]

— alright.

[ He sets it down on the floor, a few feet away from them. Then he aims the phaser at it, shooting it several times on the highest setting. What neither of them seems to know is that the cultists set up several power dampeners all around the caves, so destroying the cuff might not make much of a difference. It's not like Jim has powers, after all, so he had no reason to notice this before. ]

(The moment it's destroyed, Lucretia attempts the cantrip again and it- well. It sort of works? Sparks sputter from her fingers uselessly, dying out when she sways a little in place, frustrated.)

This doesn't make any sense. (They destroyed the cause, she should be able to cast freely now. Honestly, the fact that it didn't work right away and immediately give back her access to her magic makes Lucretia want to cry. She has no energy to deal with this right now. She blinks back angry tears, and turns back to Jim once she's got herself under control.)

Is Beverly here too?

[ Jim watches, feeling a little useless when he can't really help Lucretia use her powers right now. He didn't have to deal with the same issue, so to him it didn't matter if there was some sort of field suppressing abilities. ]

She was gearing up to break in. But we're sticking to fewer people coming in for now, until we manage to draw most of the cultists out of the compound. [ Which is why it's just been him and Loki so far, and mainly because Loki can use his illusions to keep them hidden as they move around. ]

Loki managed to use his powers on the chambers farther ahead, [ He points out. ] So you might too.

(Lucretia allows herself to take solace in that hopeful fact: that she'll see Beverly soon enough. Until then, she just has to figure her magic out... she sighs, and glances down at her hands as if this will give her any better answers. It doesn't, of course.)

Onto the next few chambers then, I guess. You don't mind if I accompany you?

(Once she has her spell slots back she'll be raring to go. Honestly, she wouldn't be opposed to taking out a good handful of cultists for what they had done to the children, to her friends. To her.)

Of course not. I'm here to help people get out, after all.

[ And he won't risk leaving Lucretia's side until he knows she has her powers back, and the ability to fight back. And even then, he'll want to make sure she's safe. ]

Come on. I'll go first, follow after me. Got it?

Good.

(She wants to help too, as much as she can. Even without her magic, she still has two hands. She can help people out of the cages, maybe even out of their power suppressors if she can gain access to her magic along the way.)

After you then, Jim.

[ Jim only nods once, then lifts his phaser, ready to aim and fire at the first thing jumping into their path. He starts down the corridor ahead of Lucretia, stopping on every turn and peeking past it to make sure it's safe to make that corner.

Granted, it'll likely only be a matter of time before they run into a few of the cultists, but he's hoping they'll make it back to one of the outer chambers before then. ]

(T'would be nice, but unfortunately that's never how things work out in the end. Lucretia keeps close to Jim while they make their way down the tunnel, as he's currently the only one with the weapon. She can't make any of her cantrips work properly and her frustration is swiftly mounting. It's like being twenty-five and at the start of the cycles all over again, needing constant protection, needing to use somebody else as a shield.

Thankfully, she isn't so fixated on it that she doesn't hear something from behind them.

She grabs the back of Jim's shirt and tugs silently to get his attention, jerking her thumb back over her shoulder at the bend in the corridor they'd left behind only moments before.)

[ Jim startles but looks back at Lucretia promptly. The gesturing is enough for him to pick up on what she's trying to say, and he nods, stepping around her and placing himself between her and the turn they just made.

He aims his phaser right at it, at about the same level as himself, so when the two cultists on their tail take the corner, they're immediately stunned, unconscious bodies collapsing on the ground. Jim breathes softly. That was quiet, at least. Hopefully didn't raise any alarms. ]

Nice shot, (Lucretia whispers, staring at the cultists in a heap on the floor. She registers, dully, that they're still breathing; Jim's weapon has merely rendered them unconsciousness. She stiffens in resentment.

This isn't any place to be having a conversation about morals or what justifies murder. They can always talk about it later if Lucretia dares to bring it up, but for now, she simply turns her back on the two out cold on the floor and thinks that if she had access to her magic, they would be much, much worse off. Then, she pauses.)

Do you think there's any use in searching them?

[ Not a conversation he's eager to have at the moment, no. Given no other option, Jim wouldn't shy away from killing cultists, especially when that would mean saving other lives, but when he has that choice, he will always opt for the non-lethal alternative, whenever he can.

He makes his way to the cultists and crouches next to them, tugging clothes out of the way and looking for any sorts of weapons. ]

I think there's use in disarming them, at least. [ What he can carry and he deems as useful, he takes for himself. He also hands a shock weapon to Lucretia, slightly larger than his phaser. ] Here. It's got a bit of a kick, but it's easy to aim. Just be careful not to point it at me.

(A fun conversation for another time, then. In the meantime, Lucretia follows him over and crouches gingerly, unable to help having a little rifle through the cultists jacket pockets anyway. One of them has a stick of chalk, which she curiously confiscates: another, a set of keys. She doesn't keep those, but she does take them and throw them pointedly away into a dark corner of the tunnel where they'll be very hard to find later.)

Oh, uh– (Lucretia hasn't really held this kind of weapon before. She casts with her hands, or with her wand or staff. This is... a gun? She holds it awkwardly in both hands.)

Thank you. I'll be careful. (It's just... aim and pull the trigger, right? She can do that. Probably. Magic means never having to really aim.)

[ Keys to some of the cells, no doubt. Considering that rescuers are blowing them open or kicking them down, they probably won't serve any purpose anymore, so it's not like it matters what Lucretia does with them.

He gets to his feet, raising an eyebrow at the way she holds the weapon in her hands, lips twitching. ] Here. Like this.

[ He moves the gun so she's holding it properly, placing her hands where they're supposed to hold. ] Don't pull the trigger, so much as squeeze it. And keep a firm grip at all times, to avoid recoil. Energy weapons can be pretty nasty, though smaller ones like this shouldn't pose much of a problem. This one has a pretty broad scope, so you don't need to worry about keeping a perfect aim. Just make sure you're pointing it at the right guys, and you might even take down two or three with one single shot.

(She listens carefully, nodding her head every so often to keep her mind in the game. It's hard to maintain concentration right now: she's very hungry, for one thing, and the dull throb of pain in her collarbone keeps distracting her. Probably good, to have a weapon, actually. Would she be able to cast her magic successfully even if she were able?

It's an uncomfortable thought.)

First cameras, now guns, (she comments lightly, resting her finger on the trigger for a moment before taking it off again,) there's a shooting people joke here somewhere.

(She'll keep holding the gun aloft with both hands, but at least it looks like she's holding it properly now.)

[ He looks at her, letting out a faint chuckle and smiling briefly. Hardly the time for jokes, but there's no harm in lightening the mood a little. ]

I vastly prefer a camera, but this is pretty useful, too. [ Especially in situations like this. A camera wouldn't do them much good. ]

Let's keep going. [ Getting to his feet, he nods for Lucretia to follow while he takes point again. ]

(Definitely not the time, and yet. Sometimes time must be made.)

You wouldn't be able to take any good photographs down here anyway. The natural light is terrible. (The corner of Lucretia's mouth twitches briefly in a tired smile, and then she abruptly gets serious again the moment Jim straightens up.

They're coming about the corner, now. Lucretia is weighing the stun weapon in her hands, keeping it high in front of her chest as she follows. She hates to admit it, but there is an element of unease in her now, possibly verging on being scared. She doesn't like being down here. Doesn't like being unable to see the sky, doesn't like being kept from her magic. It's like walking around blind. She sticks close to Jim.)

[ He huffs vaguely. That does plant an idea in his head, though. For later, of course. She'll probably love long exposure shots, they make for a really nice effect.

Jim's a little more at ease than her. No less nervous, but far more confident. He's used to not having powers for one, so he doesn't feel as though he's missing something right now, and handling a gun has always been par for the course for him.

They make the corner and Jim spots a few lights ahead, coming closer. He gestures quietly for Lucretia to hide behind a rock with him, stretching his arms out over the rock, using it as leverage as he aims at the source of the light. The moment he spots cultists turning the corner, he'll start shooting. ]

exploration mingle: CAPTIVITY

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