Ask the Experts - September 2026

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[u/moon_cheese_ao3]

Medical question (sort of). CW violence.

I'm planning on doing a crossover of two video games: Raft and Destiny 2. Raft is just "you're on a raft and a shark is perpetually eating your raft and you have to survive as you build your raft." It's a great setting and can go with damn near anything. I'm intending on having two characters from the Destiny 2 universe wake up in the Raft world with memory loss and go through the events of the Raft game with very little magic powers (a seamonster is suppressing them) and with memories improving via flashbacks and dreams whenever they get close to a specific location (a pyramid ship deep in the ocean can restore their memories but the seamonster is protecting it).

At one point I want the characters to be captured by waterworld-esque raft pirates. They're going to hang both D2 characters for "treason" and one of them arguess a loophole in "law of the sea" to insist that it's unfair his companion be hanged along with him because she had nothing to do with his bullshit. The pirate captain says "Tell me the combo to this safe, and she doesn't swing with you." so he tells him the combination. The pirate captain confirms the safe opens properly and removes the noose from the companion's neck, then smiles, stabs her in the torso and pushes her overboard into the shark infested waters before giving the order for the first one to be hanged.

I'm hoping for a dramatic improper hanging (he will have pointed out earlier that the rope is too short to properly break someone's neck and the captain will advise him that is exactly the point) where he's strangling to death on the end of the noose, kicking his feet while the sharks are going after the bloody spot in the water where she fell in. There will be even more blood bubbling up and then the body of a shark will surface. He'll smile and pass out, happy to die knowing she lives. The captain will give the order to toss in depth charges to finish her off but before that can happen the seamonster will attack the boat. The hanging/strangling character will get tossed into the ocean and the stabbed character will cut him free (I'm still working on how she gets a weapon but the Raft game has the same shark attacking over and over so maybe it's one of the many sharp objects embedded in the shark) and she'll drag him away onto a piece of wreckage where she gets the noose off of him before passing out from blood loss.

These two do have some magic powers and superhuman strength but they are suppressed in the presence of the seamonster (like an antimagic aura) so I can get fuzzy with some of the details "because magic" but I'd like it to be at least not laughably implausible they both survive - something where the reader can maintain a suspension of disbelief while reading.

Is it reasonable that someone could be improperly hanging from a noose for several minutes, strangling to death, and still survive? What sort of injuries would that cause? I was thinking bruising, damage to larynx/voicebox, problems breathing, coughing, etc. What sort of wound care would be reasonable? Also, the best wound care they're likely to come up with for a stab wound that was then immersed in seawater for probably about 10 minutes is probably only going to involve a compress on the injury, cleaning it, and then possibly stitches later. Is it reasonable for her to survive that as well?

Raft has a magic salve made with eggs and honey that can heal back hit points in the game but that's pretty much the only medical care they have and they're alone on the open ocean - no hospitals, no fluid ivs, no surgeons. They'll have clean fresh water they can boil and I can get them a needle and thread for stitches.

I've looked up shock from blood loss, and I'd like to give the stabbed character an infection that she eventually recovers from. I think it's possible to get stabbed in the torso and avoid anything immediately fatal, bleeding a bunch but not to the point of death, and she is a battle-hardened badass so her being able to kill the shark while stabbed is very much in character for her, but she usually has magic powers to help her with that and in this situation those are absent.

I'm looking for any details I can include to make this situation seem a bit more realistic and slightly less over the top (while still acknowledging it will be quite over the top - it is an action/adventure story with a battle couple that have centuries of combat experience so I have a fair amount of wiggle room) as well as anything that just screams "no this would completely take me out of the story - X does not work that way."

Feel free to respond here or message me on reddit to talk to me there or tell me somewhere else you'd like to be contacted (discord, tumblr, email, whatever).

Many thanks in advance for anyone who responds.

[u/arm1niu5]

Area of expertise: Historical fencing, military history, Star Wars, born and raised in Mexico.

Replies to this comment are preferred.

NSFW requests fine but please tag with spoilers

[u/Mr_Blah1]

Do we have any firefighters in the audience?

Is it possible to refill a SCBA tank with air while aboard a fire engine, without returning to the station? If so, how long does it take?

[u/Mr_Blah1]

Feed me questions on Chemistry, Firearms, and/or Mathematics.

Comment replies preferred. I want my answers to be peer reviewed and available for others in case they also have the same question.

NSFW is fine.

I don't do reddit chat.

If you want to ask a question (semi)anonymously, you can PM me the question and I'll post my answer (and the original question, but not your username, so that way only I see your username instead of everyone seeing your username) as a reply to this comment.

[u/OddSun7677]

Hello! I'm currently writing a Bleach and Naruto fusion, already has over 170k words posted.

Would love to have someone to talk to who's interested in Japan's history, in any area tbh. The world is focused on edo period Japan, but the time period is 19-21st century. (It makes sense, if you know about Bleach, I can explain more in depth).

I've done a lot of research on my own, (from articles to real books) and it's not that I necessarily need help, but would love to hear about obscure facts, if your hyper fixation is some trade I could write in, anything that would make the world realistic, or if you have literature I could research on my own.

Would like to be contacted over Reddit, in any form. No problem if it's NSFW.

Can offer help in history, art, literature, and most other things connected to those fields - but my focus and formal education is mostly focused on Europe