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

[worldsaway]

[Once you're in with Thor, you're in for the whole package. There's not a lot Thor won't do for someone he considers a friend, which includes combing through a flurry of distressed, evil cultists in an effort to help Peter with his cause.

He's distracted by another ugly man and he's stalking toward him like a lion and his prey. That's when he hears Peter call out into the crowd and he turns, watching him surge past with reckless abandon.]

Wait--! [Thor calls out. He's not about to yell "YOU HAVE DEBILITATING INJURIES" into a battle, but he tails Peter and resists the urge to electrocute the man.]

Maybe you should shoot him! [#DIYhints]

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Peter is, in fact, raising his gun arm to fire at the cultist, now that there’s a comparatively clear shot, but Thor’s helpful reminder gives him pause.

Makes him look over his shoulder.

Makes him give Thor a look that says, “I don’t tell you how to do your job.”

—which he quickly contradicts, because Cube-Face is diving into a crowd, and Peter curses under his breath, lowering his gun. Too many people in the way. Too much of a chance of friendly fire. ]

Little help, bro?

[worldsaway]

[Thor opens his mouth to justify himself, but quickly realises he's losing time here.

Thor panics, just a little, glancing ahead at the crowd and back at Peter before he just goes for it. He barrages into the crowd like a man-shaped battering ram, hoping that Peter is following him as he clears a path by just forcing his way through it.]

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Welp.

That’s certainly one way to do it.

He thinks briefly about that scene in The Princess Bride, when Fezzik parts a crowd with the power of his voice alone, and another part of him thinks that Drax would probably really appreciate this dude’s style.

—but. Okay. He can be nostalgic later. For now, he’s got a guy whose ass is in dire need of kicking, and Peter hurries after Thor, slipping in through the gap in the crowd like he’s hurrying through closing elevator doors.

The cultist, on the other hand, has to trudge through the throng the old fashioned way. Orange skinned with thin, wispy, tendrils of hair, sticking to his sweat-damp forehead. He’s ugly, like his face was assembled by an imaginative kid who was blindfolded and told to go nuts with a Mr. Potato Head. ]

[worldsaway]

[Thor doesn’t have the capacity to turn and see if Peter is following him, he can only trust that Peter wants this badly enough to take the opportunity. He can certainly understand his determination, it seems to fuel a passion of Thor’s own.

He’s pushing through easily enough, but the hard part here is showing restraint. If this man has wronged Peter enough to make him this mad, then Thor certainly has beef with him too. He snaps a hand out and makes a grab for him, feeling like he’s unmistakably like the portrait Peter has mentally painted for him.

Thor rips him backward, sending him tumbling on the ground behind him. He’s between Thor and Peter and Thor scrambles, aiming to try and plant a foot on his chest like he’s a spider they’ve both been tearing their apartment apart to find.]

[nostalgiabomb]

[ The guy goes ass over tea kettle as he tumbles, and when he finally comes to a stop on his back, he's staring straight up at Peter.

A righteously furious Peter.

Listen. Peter can take a lot – insults and punches and kicks and just various forms of abuse – and not let it affect him. But the second some asshole messes with something or someone he loves, deeply and unconditionally?

It's goddamn over.

And it certainly doesn't help that Peter's mad as hell, that he's running on fumes, that he's sleep deprived and hardly thinking straight.

Peter doesn't give the guy a chance to dart off, doesn't even give Thor a chance to stomp on the guy like a wayward cockroach. Peter drives his knee into the dude's sternum to keep him down, raining down fist after fist into the dude's face while the cultist garbles out a few empty apologies and requests for mercy.

Aaaand that's definitely the cultist's tooth that goes skittering across the floor. ]