[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dies Irae]

"Unfortunately Nathan, regarding you and your Ralts, the answer is actually no. Heaven knows I've done enough dirt digging in my life, but it's not really my style to go looking if people aren't ready to share directly. I value my privacy. Figure you'd too. If you wanted to, you'd tell me when you're ready."

He pauses. "That said, 'what I'm up against' comes with it's own nasty set of implications as well."

Slowly, Vincent helps himself to his feet with his cane.

"Moran. Going to recall you for a while. You. Fire Horse. Bad outcomes." He taps the Pokeball recall function and stashes the bowl in his backpack.

"Back to the point, Nathan. If it's what I think you're implying, well... you're working with me, so I'll keep an eye out for you. But more than that, if you want to take the next step, what are you doing about it? You might not be able to do much now, but what about learning to defend yourself? You don't strike me as the sort who likes to stick around to take a hit..." He looks over Nathan with an appraising eye. "But you're fit and you're cagey. There's plenty of ways to leverage on those strengths in a fight."

"We probably should get this Ponyta thing wrapped up first, but afterwards, if you've got the time and inclination, I'd be happy to teach you what I know."

He taps his Pokedex, bringing up the compass, "East is that way. We should get going. We can talk while we walk."

[Dragonstrike]

"Yeah, I'll take you up on that offer later. Big picture and all that. Small one first though. Let's get going."

[Iron]

Nathan and Ventus come upon a charred wasteland, just over a hill from the main path. At first, Nathan's stomach sinks - is this the fault of the wayward Ponyta?
Upon closer inspection, it looks like this fire burned long, long ago. Somehow, Nature has not recovered.
Another Survivalist is here, gathering ashes and mumbling to himself.

"Gotta get ashes...make glass...make that music...what fire is hot enough? Fire horse is hot enough....aye, aye, that would do it, horse will help... hope it doesn't et a' me deyo..."

He keeps glancing in a certain direction as he says this. You aren't sure what that last bit means, but the hint is clear enough.

You follow his footprints through the ash in the direction he inadvertently indicated. There you find the large Ponyta, its halter a charred ruin. It has one hoof stabbed through a burned picnic basket, tromping around comically from plant to plant. It is eating the beautiful spring flowers, but avoiding a certain very strange flower with shiny, translucent petals, which is scattered here and there among the daisies.

Ponyta recognizes you and trots casually back into the daisy meadow, away from you. The flowers wilt as it goes.

[Iron]

Berry time!

Ventus: 3-1 = 2 dice
(5)(3) - Ventus finds one Persim berry growing on a low tree or tall bush.

Shiva: 1 dice, minimum
(4), needed 6 for full success - Shiva finds a Ranc berry bush growing in a bog. Two flowers have blossomed but not ripened. The flower is delicate and pink and winged, somewhat like a Hoppip.

larry: 1 dice, minimum
(6) - Larry successfully finds a Chesto berry on a scrubby little tree. Oshawott is much more helpful than Ekans, and Weedle is very slow. Weedle tries to ride the snake but Ekans bucks it off.

[Dragonstrike]

Nathan and Ventus come upon a charred wasteland, just over a hill from the main path. At first, Nathan's stomach sinks - is this the fault of the wayward Ponyta?
Upon closer inspection, it looks like this fire burned long, long ago. Somehow, Nature has not recovered.
Another Survivalist is here, gathering ashes and mumbling to himself.

"Gotta get ashes...make glass...make that music...what fire is hot enough? Fire horse is hot enough....aye, aye, that would do it, horse will help... hope it doesn't et a' me deyo..."

He keeps glancing in a certain direction as he says this. You aren't sure what that last bit means, but the hint is clear enough.

You follow his footprints through the ash in the direction he inadvertently indicated. There you find the large Ponyta, its halter a charred ruin. It has one hoof stabbed through a burned picnic basket, tromping around comically from plant to plant. It is eating the beautiful spring flowers, but avoiding a certain very strange flower with shiny, translucent petals, which is scattered here and there among the daisies.

Ponyta recognizes you and trots casually back into the daisy meadow, away from you. The flowers wilt as it goes.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me...she's gone and ruined some picnicker's lunch, and now there's a survivalist looking to capture her for making glass for some random reason...and she's purposely running away from us too..."

After marveling at the ridiculousness of the situation, Nathan takes a moment to best determine how to go about retrieving her.

"Hmmmm....Vincent, why don't you talk with that survivalist a bit?  Make it clear that ponyta is NOT up for capture since it belongs to the ranch.  If he can help us, maybe I can convince Ponyta to help him or something.  I'll follow the horse, try and catch up to her.  Can't capture her until I've informed my mom I've reigned her in, so the more quickly we get this done, the better."

Nathan looks down at Ralts for a moment.  Then he looks at the ponyta casually trotting away from them.  Then he looks back at Ralts, and sighs.  "Okay, Ralts, I need to put you in your pokeball.  We're not going to be able to keep up with her if I don't.  Alright?"  Ralts nods in understanding once again.  He can feel a wide range of emotions coming from Nathan, but none of the prevalent ones are off putting for the little pokemon.  When Ralts nods, Nathan pulls out the dull premier ball and recalls Ralts, pocketing it soon afterwards.

"Alright, time to get started, then.  Remember, no battling her unless it becomes absolutely necessary."  Nathan runs into the field of flowers, knowing that Ponyta isn't going to just stop and wait for him.  She wants to play around, mess with her pursuers.  Stopping isn't on her agenda.  She's done this every time she's escaped.  The pattern isn't likely to change now.

[Iron]

Ponyta knows a game when she sees one. She grabs a daisy stem in her mouth and flings it about, then runs off in a random direction.

[Dragonstrike]

A 'wild' ponyta appears!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKd5BREvi3I

'Alright, Ponyta, game on. Let's see...can't really sneak up on her easily in an open field...but she was avoiding a particular type of flower...maybe it would be possible to corner her?' Nathan looks around, looking for spots in the field with a larger concentration of those strange flowers with transluscent petals.

[Iron]

The strange flowers are relatively scarce. But you do think you see the glimmer of water to the northeast. Looks like it might be a large, round puddle with a bit of a raised area immediately around it. And there are definitely more of the flowers in that direction. Between the two, you might have a chance to corner the hoss.

[Dies Irae]

"For freak's sake." It takes a moment for Vincent to recover his composure.

"FAILURE... FIASCO... FLOP? NAH."

What the hell are you babbling about?

"FINDING DESCRIPTIVES FOR THIS SITUATION THAT BEGIN WITH THE LETTER 'F'. THERE'S ONE I'D LIKE TO USE, BUT NOT IN POLITE COMPANY." The officer leans back against an invisible wall, arms crossed across his chest as it judges him silently from the back of his head.

Give it a rest.

"YOU'RE NOT THINKING IT THROUGH. DETAILS. WHAT ARE YOU MISSING?"

The officer is right. The details don't match up. The flowers. The agitated horse - okay. Well maybe that. But what in Arcaeus' name was that man babbling about?

"Sir." He turns to the dazed Survivalist. "Are you injured in any way?"

He hoped the man was lucid enough to reason with. He did NOT want to spend the next minute in a shouting match with a derelict burn out.

"What happened? What's the glass you mentioned and what's it for? And what was that last part? Something about 'et a' me deyo'?"

[Dragonstrike]

Knowing that cornering the horse is likely going to take 2 or 3 people to get her to reliably go in the correct direction, Nathan is going to try and keep her occupied and in the same relative area she's currently in as best as he can until Vincent arrives. If Ponyta wanders in that direction though, he'll try to corner her by himself.