Original Post

(06-16-2018, 08:42 PM)Iron Wrote: 10 dice, +2 Helping Hand, -2 since it's a specific question, 5 successes needed for full information. An even shot.

(6)(3)(3)(5)(3)(2) (5)(4)(4)(4)

Introduction to The Art of War
"Whimsicott, the Ram Pokemon, represents April and Springtime. But it also represents war and warlords. None on Creshire was so great as Sarimanok. After his defeat, League propaganda sometimes symbolized the King and the Skull Ruins (his former palace) with a crumbling Whimsicott or a dead Charizard. Thus, his own Throne of Skulls became the symbol of his own defeat."

The four bright stars, as best you can figure, are points of interest related to the other visions. Ventus believes they represent some kind of goal or event within the Skull Ruins.

The Library contains many, many works on the Six and the Four: the Pokemon and Trainers who, alone, stormed Sarimanok's inner sanctum and led to his defeat. From these brave souls, the worldwide tradition began of carrying no more than six Pokemon and using no more than four moves in a single battles. A sort of homage. The symbology crops up in a lot of other places too, including the oath "By the Six and the Four!" Comes up in post-Sarimanok architecture, too.

Sarimanok, of course, never followed any such rule, and would gladly send wave after wave of Pokemon at his foes. Pokemon battles for sport were normally just 1-on-1 gladiator style battles.

(06-16-2018, 10:13 PM)Dragonstrike Wrote:

Spoiler

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@Lord Windos

Ventus can later find Nathan doodling in his journal in the Library.  He's drawing a lot of rare, sometimes strange looking pokemon.  There's what looks to be a blue horse with a yellow mohawk and a fish tail, a rat with a paintbrush for a tail, a cute little bugbear, a little red bird, a spooky looking skeleton with a hook for a hand, a black sheep...he's referring to a book for descriptions an pictures while he draws his own.  That blue horse-like pokemon definitely looks like some extra care has gone into drawing it.  Kirlia and 'Kirlia' are chatting nearby.

Out of curiosity, does that book on imported pokemon say why Electruxo and Pahar were imported, @Iron?

(06-17-2018, 06:18 AM)PhantomUnderYourDesk Wrote:

Spoiler

She's also uncomfortable about how closely connected to war that King was upon reading through these findings, something Shiva doesn't even hide when being among Ven here. Eventually, she just frowns, sighs rather tiredly and puts her head in her hands to support it, bangs of hair falling forward to partly obscure the fear in her soft features. "...I knew it....", she mumbles. "It's indeed all connected to these Ruins, Ven. Something's definitely going on there, something unfortunate, dear. And from the look of it we are practically the only ones in the position to try stopping things. It's so clear: One day, we'll have to descend down there. Oh Ven...... That's...not exactly what I've expected when I came here to the region to gather experience with own Pokemon to care for, to journey in order to become a braver and less unstable person. But...it's necessary in order to follow a peaceful life later on together, now is it...? Haahhh... *deep breath* So be it then. At least it's not instant and we can prepare, so... Let us make the best of it, shall we?" Slowly, she withdraws her hands from supporting her head again, and gifts Ventus a soft, yet somehow sad smile. "Let me just quick-note things in my stuff, then we can make our way to...your hammock to just spend a bit of time together. It's been a while since we...did, so much has happened, so I'd love to..." (she can still easily guess that he's not totally alright, but doesn't say something about that) ...I'll also try to find out more about these six brave Trainers and Pokemon who defeated Sarimanok, but maybe not here in Atheneum. It's enough now."

It may border to history, but it's actually something that interests her and seems important. Maybe from these four brave Trainers she can learn how to be brave herself, and gather valuable hints on how to behave and survive in the Skull Ruins. Simultaneously she'll look out for more information on these four events/goals within the Ruins represented by the four dim stars.

(06-17-2018, 07:11 AM)Lord Windos Wrote: (...) Still, he managed to hide the worst of his discontent (though not all of it; he doesn't want to close out Shiva totally on his mood, no matter how much he wants to shield her from the worst of it) and responds to her request with a small smile and a nod of his head, along with the words: "That is more than reasonable, dear. Take your time, and don't feel the need to rush on my behalf. We have plenty of time to....while away together...."

Again, with that hesitant tone and look in his eyes, but it was less noticeable now than it was before. Conscious effort to suppress those tell tell signs of reservation/anxiety/???, perhaps?

(06-17-2018, 06:49 AM)Lord Windos Wrote:

Spoiler

Later on (after his moment with Shiva), when Ventus stumbled upon the sight of the young scholar casually drawing all sorts of Pokémon he didn't recognize in their journal, he could not resist his curiosity drawing silently near him and quietly hovering over their shoulder to watch, despite his....reservations and selective apathy concerning their affairs (Can he be oblivious to my chara's presence? That be a nice ice breaker, Ven sneaking up on Nathan again!). That, and seeing them so.....calm yet glowing with happiness and pure contentment after their recent state of melancholic shock over the accidental discovery of a lost text of Marco's......well, how could he NOT investigate this marked change more closely, and perhaps to also just bathe in those good vibes for a bit. Reshirim knows he needs all the positively he can muster, after this long, hectic, and dangerous quest. 

Besides.....a little attentiveness to the boy isn't going TOO far outside his comfort zone, now was it?

"...….Seeing as your spirits are fully elevated now, I trust all went smashingly with the Bonding Rituals, Nathan?"

The researcher said this suddenly and out of the blue in a faint question, tentative tone, and practically right in Nathan's ear as his own head was just hovering a little bit behind his shoulder. On the surface, it was a seemingly innocuous question, and in part it was just that. It had a subtle, underlying purpose, though: to see how the boy was fairing from that....discovery, and gently coax him to talk about it without being overly intrusive or noisy about it. Hopefully he was discrete enough that they wouldn't pick that immediately, or ideally at all....

After saying that, Ven drew himself back and out of Nathan's personal space, clasping both his hands together as he stared at them with a calm demeanor and frown on his face. He was looking off to the side for a moment with a pensive gleam in his eyes, before briefly closing them and *Sighing* and turned to fully face the young scholar and broach the topic that brought him searching/stumbling upon them in the first place.

"Nathan, I know you....refused to teach ALL my Rock Smash, despite my assurances that I can handle my more Disobedient's usage of the move, and I would like to ask you to reconsider you decision, now that we are in private and you've had time to mull things over more. At the very least, I desire for my Delta Forrestress to learn the HM Move. I...plan to give them to Dagney as a gift, out of gratitude for all she's done for us, as a gesture of friendship, and a way to further good relationships between us all. Perhaps even garner a favor from her, and get her to pull a few strings for the group or wade in herself to get things done for us that we otherwise could not, though that isn't my main intention with the gift. I plan on being....discrete on how it knows the Move, so that she doesn't start asking those obvious questions, so if that is a worry of you, don't fret."

Pausing for a moment for all that to sink in and catch his breath, Ven tilted his head at the boy and simply said: "Well?" before going silent, and awaiting his response. Time to see if letting them in on ONE of his plans for those Pokémon will reverse his previous decision. Otherwise....well, he would not be too happy about that, to put it mildly.

(06-17-2018, 09:01 AM)Iron Wrote: Sarimanok's gladiator style Pokemon battles were not to the death. Nurse Joy said a Pokemon battle without a Healing Machine would be to the death, but Healing Machines were prevalent during Sarimanok's time.

(06-17-2018, 08:19 AM)Dragonstrike Wrote:

Spoiler

Now that Ventus is closer, there's one drawing in the journal that Ventus couldn't quite see from a distance because Nathan is currently working on it and it's almost half hidden among all the other strange looking pokemon: a little black and white bird pokemon.  (Why was Masking imported to Creshire, @Iron?  Almost forgot to ask that.  And was Swabone purposeful or were they stowaways?)  The pictures are also all labeled with the pokemon names and Rare Imported Pokemon is also written in the journal as well.


Nathan calmly turns around when Ventus asks the first question, one arm slung across the back of the chair.  It's really hard to tell if he's surprised or not.  "Yeah.  Went well, and ended about how I expected them to.  Wasn't able to do them yesterday like I originally wanted, but..."  He shrugs.


From what Ventus can pick up from the two Kirlia, it wasn't with either of them.  Kirlia is the same as ever (and probably doesn't need it anyways), while 'Kirlia'...is doing her best to avoid having to go over to that table for now, feeling incredivbly shy around everyne that's not Kirlia.  She's quite content with spending time with her friend while she has the chance, thank you very much!

Nathan frowns a little at Ventus's next question.

"...you're...trading it...to Dagny..."

He has to think about that for a moment.

He sighs.

"...alright, fine...two conditions, though: once it knows the move, don't give it any chances to potentially use it, and I want to be there when you trade it.  And I'm keeping a few Fire types out while we teach it the move.  Outside."

(06-17-2018, 07:48 AM)PhantomUnderYourDesk Wrote:

Spoiler

(…)

Having things packed away then and Cottonee being back on her head, she does face Ventus again - rather carefully however, a hint of nervousness visible in her. All caused by the anxious way he behaves towards her; she won't exactly ask what's wrong as she can assume what it might be, he said 'It's nothing' assuming he isn't prone to talk about it either, and will leave the pace of whiling away fully to him. "Done. I'm done with my things here in Atheneum, I...mean...." Her eyes look away for a moment. "Guide me then, please... Hehe, it came...suprising that you're the one asking for my company, but who'd I be to deny it...?"

(06-17-2018, 09:12 AM)Lord Windos Wrote:

Spoiler

Seeing yet another mysterious Pokémon and the title of the sections they were held under, Ventus couldn't help but ask them with a curious frown and scrunched up eyebrows: "Nathan, what Pokémon are you sketching into your journal? I've never seen their kind before, which is an oddity given my education, so if you don't mind to inform me what they are and a little bit about them....?"

Their non-chalant response almost earned them a raised eyebrow from the empath, the words 'Are you sure?' hanging off the very tip of his tongue, but restrained both impulses and simply nodded their head. If they were fine and relaxed now, there was no need for him to pry any further, or start a discussion that could end up being a buzz kill for the boy. Sure, he was naturelly intrigued as to which Pokémon they conducted the ritual, but that would soon become apparent to him once he examines the feelings/emotion/behavior of them over time. He wasn't a Pokémon Sociologist AND an Empath, after all!

However, he couldn't help but give Nathan scrunched up look of confusion, surprise, and mild discontent as they only agreed to the bare minimum of his request, and tacked on condition that positively reeked of distrust of his ability to handle at that. They very well knew he was [i]damn [/i]good at caring/handling Disobedient Pokémon, and they equally knew of his....talent to conduct 'special' trades with no hassle, so why was he so...…[i]difficult [/i]about it. He honestly didn't know whether to feel somewhat insulted, more annoyed, or [i]impressed [/i]with how cautious the boy was being about the HM distribution, but eventually settled into exasperated acceptance as he let out a very put upon *Sigh* and nodded his head.

".....Your faith my expertise and ability to handle this all non-withstanding, I agree to your....terms. I have counter conditions of my own you, however. First,[b] you must hide the HM somewhere that can't easily be discovered for roughly a couple days worth of time, as I do not want to chance Dagney conducting a random search of our persons and confiscating that HM, or even knowing we have had contact with it if possible.[/b] Since the League is draconian about those Moves, and the Steel Wonder is closely associated with them ('And has her own diverse and private interests. Not that I mind, but the boy might...'), so I don't want us to lose possession of it so easily, or start being closely monitored by them. Second,[b] let me handle talking with Dagney for the most part, as I want to minimize the chance she grows suspicious of my gift.[/b] If she address you personally, feel free to respond, but try to keep things succient and concise....."

Ven rubbed his temples while saying this, as what was going to be a private and fairly quick affair now has been greatly complicated, which intensified his minor headache he received from Antheneum going through that time whammy event (not that he knows it was THAT specifically). Oy vie.....