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

[ Every time a cultist comes looking for Goodsir, there's a moment where he's sure they're going to make the same dire request that Cornelius Hickey did. They never do, but the sheer inconsistency amongst them is starting to drive him a little mad. One will ask him to look after a prisoner's injuries, then another will forbid him from doing exactly that, and in the ensuing argument, Goodsir is usually the one who gets cuffed in the head and shoved to the ground.

He'd try refusing their requests, but his conscience won't let him.

This time, however, he's actually been allowed to examine a concussed woman in peace. Assured that her injuries are no more serious than that, he steps away and sits down on the floor, staring into space—not noticing that there's someone right next to him. ]

[ The man who sits down next to him, Jeff recognizes him as the doctor. Not... that he knows the doctor's name or anything-- he's never even spoken to him before-- but he's seen their captors bark for him to patch up the people they've hurt too badly, only for another to smack him down for having the gall to do as he's told.

And now the guy looks like he's retreating into his own world. He's got that thousand yard stare Jeff recognizes from, god... over 20 years ago. The people he met at rehab (it wasn't rehab, not in the way most people think about it, but it's a better way of putting it than 'inpatient treatment for magical fuckups'). He probably had that look, himself, in his first weeks there, too.

He doesn't reach out to touch the guy, to put a comforting hand on his shoulder or anything. It might not be welcome. But he does lean to the side, gives him a light nudge with his shoulder. ]

Hey. You still with us?

[ Goodsir doesn't answer for a moment; when he's not immediately at work, he feels his reactions have slowed, his thoughts and movements sluggish—or else racing, too quick to handle. Which is all too like his time in Hickey's camp, which opens the door in his mind to memories that he does not want to dwell on.

But someone is talking to him now, and he manages to summon the will to reach for conversation like a lifeline. ]

I—yes. I think I am. [ The weakest of smiles. ] Merely weary. I can scarcely tell how many days have passed, and every moment has been...

[ He trails off. He probably doesn't need to explain. ]

[ Later, Jeff's going to have to take a moment to marvel, once again, at the array of people here in Riverview. The facial hair alone was a sure sign that the doctor wasn't from any place contemporary to Jeff's own time, and the manner in which he speaks only hammers that point in further.

He returns that weak smile with one of his own, like that's anywhere near adequate, considering the circumstances. Helplessness is just about one of the worst feelings, and these cultists are doing a great job spreading that feeling among the hostages. ]

Yeah. [ That weak attempt at a smile warms up a little, at least, as he adds with some small note of humor: ] Makes me wish I was wearing a watch when they grabbed me.

[ Haha, right. If he had access to a watch right now, he's pretty sure he'd just be staring at it constantly, working himself up into bigger and bigger fits of anxiety as he watches the hands tick the time away. He huffs out a breath. ] Times like this, I just try to think of when and where I'd rather be. Like a beach, hanging out by the boardwalk. [ Ah, yeah, he can see it now. He looks at the doctor, brow lifted. ] What about you? [ Who knows if it'll help or hurt, but hey, "think happy thoughts" isn't the worst strategy there is, right? ]

[ The idea of holidaying by the seaside hasn't yet taken hold in Goodsir's native time, and for him the great seaside piers at Brighton and Blackpool are still in the future—but he imagines something like the entertainments on offer in places like Bath, and smiles. ]

You will find it slightly absurd, I am sure, but—I have found some peace in cataloguing in my mind various specimens of copepod of the genus Calanus. [ He looks at once embarrassed and a little proud. ] My brother and I wrote several papers on these creatures, and I had hoped, once, to make further discoveries in the Arctic seas.

Ah... [ He hesitates, not because he does find it absurd, but because... ] God, I'm sorry, what's a copepod?

[ He quickly adds: ] I think it's cool, cataloging! My wife-- ex-wife-- she was a biologist. Is. She's still one. [ Okay, he needs to stop himself before he rambles. He just doesn't want to insult the guy's work here! ] So I don't think it's absurd. I just, uh, don't know a lot, myself.

[ Goodsir brightens a bit; unlike some learned men—Dr Stanley, for instance—he likes it when he can impart new information to someone. ]

I beg your pardon—I should explain. A copepod is a miniscule sort of crustacean—think of a shrimp or a crab, perhaps, but smaller even than your little fingernail. The oceans teem with them—indeed, I think that if one were to gather every one that exists into a net, the biomass would exceed that of—well, of bony fish, for example. They are fascinating, resilient creatures—Calanus septentrionalis may enter a state of hibernation during times of food scarcity and—

[ —and he's probably boring this poor man half to death, isn't he. ]

—well. As you may gather, then, it is easy for me to occupy my mind with these things.

Huh! [ A teeny, tiny crustacean! A little sea bug! Not something Jeff would think to study, himself, but he's met enough of his ex's colleagues to know that there's a reason they're the scientists and he isn't. They've got a way of looking at the world that's kind of beautiful, in its own way, even if he doesn't fully get it.

So he's not so sure what's so fascinating about tiny sea bugs, but he's listening with rapt attention, anyway, because-- if nothing else-- he's enjoying Harry's enthusiasm. It's nice to see him move further away from that thousand yard stare he had going. ]

How'd you get into studying them? I always thought I'd like to study lizards, myself. If I ever went into the field.

[ There's no reason for this, other than "because lizards are cool." ]

My brothers and I spent our childhood playing on the shore. [ A bit of a shy smile. ] I loved the creatures we found in the tide pools, and was fascinated with what I saw when we brought the sea-water home to my father's microscope. But Scotland is sparse in Reptilia—though I have read that the Hebrides are home to a curious legless lizard that they call the "slow worm".

[ Shoreside brotherly antics? Now that's something he can totally relate to, even if he and his own brothers mostly just, like, shoved each other around and threw things at each other. In a loving way. ]

What kinds of creatures did you find? [ BUT AS TO THE LEGLESS LIZARD, Jeff blinks. ] And uh... slow worm? Is it, like, a snake?

[ No, Jeff. Listen and learn. ]

The "slow worm" looks much like a snake, but it is more closely related scientifically to a lizard than to snakes—their eyes are lidded like a lizard's, for example, and their scales are lizard-like rather than ophidian.

[ He could go on. But reptiles aren't his primary field of expertise and he doesn't want to misspeak. ]

But I know rather more about the creature of the tide-pools than lizards, I confess. Molluscs, crabs, star-fish—that is what my brothers and I used to find, and they can be most beautiful.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

exploration mingle: CAPTIVITY

phase i

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject