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riverviewlogs2018-06-15 09:35 pm
- !mod post: exploration mingle,
- almost human: dorian,
- critical role: mollymauk tealeaf,
- dragon age: iona lavellan,
- dragon age: relm hawke,
- halo: forward unto dawn: chyler silva,
- imperial radch: breq,
- logan: laura,
- magnificent seven: billy rocks,
- marvel (616): billy kaplan,
- marvel (616): cable,
- marvel (616): loki laufeyson,
- marvel (616): teddy altman,
- marvel (616): tommy shepherd,
- marvel (mcu): gamora,
- marvel (mcu): loki,
- marvel (mcu): mantis,
- marvel (mcu): peter parker,
- marvel (mcu): peter quill,
- marvel (mcu): steve rogers,
- marvel (mcu): tony stark,
- marvel (mcu): wanda maximoff,
- marvel (tv): skye,
- once upon a time: victor frankenstein,
- original: jeff calhoun,
- original: shigeru miyata,
- osomatsu-san: jyushimatsu matsuno,
- rivers of london: peter grant,
- star trek (aos): james kirk,
- star wars: finn,
- star wars: poe dameron,
- the adventure zone: taako taaco,
- the black tapes: alex reagan,
- the black tapes: richard strand,
- the terror (tv): harry goodsir,
- voltron: keith,
- ✖ dc comics (rebirth): damian wayne,
- ✖ marvel (616): thor,
- ✖ original: sage abernathy,
- ✖ osomatsu-san: osomatsu matsuno,
- ✖ shadowhunter chronicles: alec lightwoo,
- ✖ stargate atlantis: carson beckett,
- ✖ stargate atlantis: elizabeth weir,
- ✖ the adventure zone: lucretia,
- ✖ the adventure zone: lup taaco,
- ✖ the adventure zone: magnus burnsides,
- ✖ the covenant: chase collins,
- ✖ the witcher: keira metz
exploration mingle: CAPTIVITY
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
captivityOne 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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
no subject
So he was saving you, in the end. From some... bad fate.
[They decide not to quiz him on what exactly that might be. He seems to not be all that excited about recounting the situation.]
Several years ago, when I was still a teenager, we had thought we found another god. She was a scrawny little child in stolen clothes living without a home in a developing world, no real technology to speak of, no ties that hadn't hurt her deeply. About my age, actually, but she looked smaller.
[Possibly due to sickness and hunger.]
She was tested for her Nature, and found to... not be what we needed. But to return her to her world would be cruel. So she was taken into the Nexus as a refugee. To live in an orphanage, yes, but she would've been worse off at home.
Things like that happen more than you'd think. Maybe not all the time. But they happen.
no subject
[ And he says it with more than a little uncertainty.
He gets what the Tetherer is trying to say, but it’s not quite the same. Unlike whoever it is they’re talking about, Peter already had a home. He already had family and people who cared about him.
Peter wouldn’t trade his current life for anything – because he’s finally found a new family, and he’s found the love of his life, and he’s finally doing good in the world, and he’s happy – but sometimes, he wonders what life would’ve been like if he had stayed on Earth. Sat through Mom’s funeral. Lived with Grandma and Gramps. Finished off school and went off to college, like Mom wanted him to.
Maybe he’d be going nuts with some 9 to 5 desk job, or maybe he’d be working for NASA, like he had always dreamed of doing as a kid. Maybe he’d be happy. Maybe he wouldn’t. But the fact of the matter is, he’s never going to know.
Sometimes, he can’t forgive Yondu for depriving him of a normal life. And sometimes, he can’t thank the bastard enough for introducing him to the big wide galaxy.
Relationship Status: It’s Complicated. ]
Was she happy, though? About being taken and chucked into a wildly different environment?
no subject
So maybe he had more ties than the girl with the Nature of Disorder, but they still can't help but make the connection. The girl isn't even the only one this has happened to, she was just the one that Teth happened to be heavily involved in.
After all, Teth is the one that took her from her world. Child to child. They were working from a young age, and the Nexian government found their being a child could be helpful at times, back then.]
I don't know her personally. Not anymore. She keeps in contact with my partner, I believe. They were from the same world.
Last I heard, she'd gone to medical school and become a doctor of some kind. I don't know if she's happy, but she's certainly had better opportunities than she would have had otherwise.
no subject
[ Still, he thinks. Not quite the same, but maybe it is? In a handful of ways. When he was a kid, they used to do those Venn diagram things; maybe his situation and this other woman’s have at least a few points of overlap.
... But, shit. This conversation is taking a kind of dark turn, isn’t it? He shifts, trying to get a little more comfortable – almost impossible to do in the state he’s in, but he’s trying anyway. Lanie only lets off a small noise of protest before settling again. ]
You know— [ And he makes a concerted effort to brighten his tone a little. ] —when I was a kid, I used to want to be an astronaut.
Guess I ended up taking one hell of a shortcut, huh?
no subject
I guess you did. That's a nice way to look at it.
[It's not something they can easily relate to. Their lot in life was chosen for them the minute they could form full sentences. They spent so much time preparing to be a god, they never had the chance to wonder what else they could be.
And now they're a barista on a world untouched by Natures. Weird, how life takes you unexpected places.]
no subject
[ He tilts his head a little, almost curious. ]
What about you? I mean, yeah, the god thing, sure— [ Which still puts an odd taste in his mouth, mentioning it. But Teth seems... fine. Not psychopathic, and not apparently bent on the destruction of the known universe, so they're almost certainly not cut from the same cloth as Ego. ] —but when you were young, did you ever wanna be anything else?
no subject
...I don't believe I had the chance to wonder if I could be anything else. There was a lot of preparation being done the moment my Nature was discovered. I was very young at the time. Younger than you when you left Earth.
I'm sure if I expressed a desire to be something else, I'd have been met with shock and dismay. And... to be honest, I was once rather excited about it.
Most kids want to be the next world leader at some point in their lives. I had the good fortune of being one already.
[After all, by the time they reached their teens they were already fulfilling their role. Traveling to other worlds and parlaying with their leading powers. Searching for the other gods. Sure, they had others assisting them, but they were also given a fast track to their destiny.]
no subject
It's not always about practicality, you know? Sometimes it's fun to just, like, dream the big dream.
Like, there was this kid in my second grade class – Bobby Kirkpatrick, I think – who wanted to be a robot when he grew up. I have a strong feeling that probably didn't work out for him, but hey, you never know.
no subject
[Said in complete earnestness.]
no subject
Not unless you're Alex Murphy.
no subject
...I was joking -- who's Alex Murphy?
no subject
[ And he loses the solemn expression almost immediately. ]
It's a movie. I can add it to the list, if you want. It's violent as hell, but it's pretty cool.
[ ... which begs the question, who the hell let a seven- or eight-year-old Peter Quill watch a rated-R movie? (Probably his grandpa.) ]
But, uh, no, that kinda tech hadn't been perfected on Earth, when I was a kid. Lots of cyborgs in space, though.
no subject
Okay, add it to the list. I'd like to see this man that becomes a robot.
[People can't become robots. That's silly.]
We have plenty of people with robotic parts in the Nexus -- what you'd call cyborgs -- but nothing like that. If Robocop is about what you're implying.
no subject
Yeah. He basically, like, gets his brain chucked into a robot body. [ SPOILERS. Sorry. ]
But, um, I knew someone who was, like, at least 90% robot parts? It's, uh, kind of a touchy subject, but there's that.
[ Though, to be fair, everything with Nebula is a touchy subject. He's reasonably sure talking about how pleasant the weather is would be enough to make her snarl and draw a gun on him. ]
no subject
[There could exist a human robot, somewhere in the Nexus.]
no subject
So Bobby Kirkpatrick only has to make his way to your Nexus thingy to find the possible tech to live out his childhood dream?
Sounds easy enough.
no subject
no subject
On the off-chance I ever go back to Earth and see that guy again, I’ll let him know there’s the tiniest, slimmest glimmer of hope for him.
no subject
[That does make them wonder, though.]
Is there a reason you've never gone back? Or have you?
no subject
Just never really found a reason to, you know?
It might be my home planet, but it hasn't actually been... home for me. For a long time.
Does that make any sense?
no subject
[They don't completely grasp his situation, and what it all entails, and all of his feelings on his Earth, but they can understand the place where you were born not feeling like where you belong. Or at least, they can understand some version of that sentiment.]
At least you can still enjoy your Earth's movies.
no subject
Yeah. At least there’s that.
I was being serious about that marathon, by the way. Keep your schedule open for me.
no subject
[They're very serious about any and all plans. They want to watch all these movies.]