[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

At 'we shouldn't seperate' Shiva remembered something. Something...important...well, personally and emotionally important.

She gently nudged Ven on the shoulder to catch his attention, and looked rather coy. "That reminds me on something... I wanted to visit that spot I found my magical fox when we're in Wineberry anyway... But, if we shouldn't seperate, maybe one of you want to join?" ... "NO, Ven, there is no active magic on that spot. It's more a quiet and somewhat elusive spot hidden away a little East of town, filled with energy and looking rather enjoyable at dark." While speaking, a smile formed on her face.

Ventus made a face at mention of the location being 'filled with active energy' , but he just sighed and shook his head. "I would be willing to accompany you along the way, in case something happens. The woods are pretty, but as we know it hides all sorts of nasty surprises... Nathan, while I would like you to accompany us, you are by no means obligated. You have Kirlia to Teleport you out of danger at a moment's notice and possess several strong fighters, so letting you conduct you own business should be fine for a short time," he said, speaking to Shiva and Nathan at various points in the conversation. It would be a dely to entering the town and splitting the party, but compromise must be made at times...

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

At Ven seemingly expressing...dislike? Fear? She wasn't very sure...to her eager to revisit Braixen's liar, Shiva just stared at him from the side.

"You don't believe me that it's a friendly and reenergizing place, huh? It's a rather beautiful place at full moon, I need to check for the lunar phase first though, but maybe we'll find some special herbs there; or anything, Braixen will surely enjoy to revisit the place I found him as a Fennekin..." ... "I too have Teleport on my side with Helios, but if you want to see by yourself, Ven, you surely can join me, I have nothing against that."

She was then giving him a subliminally adorable smile, a little eager to show him that there was nothing to fear about. Somewhat, she was enjoying this protectiveness though, even if she wasn't realizing this fully.



(That doesn't happen now, though! In fact, while I planned to revisit the spot, I didn't planned when, I'll do that whnever I feel it matches.)

[Lord Windos]

The researcher lets out a sight at her comment, and pinches his nose is slight disgruntlement. "I completely believe you, and that is what I don't like about the place. Natural Energy and Magic are not too dissimilar in practice, application, or effect, and I worry that the local could adversely affect you or I if we remain in the area for too long. Or attract something particularly troublesome, depending on the conditions and various other factors, like you said. I also know you have Helios, but every little bit of help...well, helps. I want to keep everyone safe, and that includes you as well, my friend," Ventus said, returning her smile with a somewhat worried one, but he trust that you know what you're doing. At least, for now.

(Ready to go to town myself, @Iron! I'm going to stick around either Phantom or Nathan, since we are entering semi-dangerous territory!)

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

She said nothing about Ven's fear the Power Spot could affect her negaitively. As for attracting something troublesome, she didn't have the feeling there was anything troublesome they could run into there... On the other hand, he wasn't wrong with wanting to keep everyone safe, and how every little bit of help helped, so his worries were reasonable for Shiva, since she knew he had only the best intentions.

Nevertheless she grumbled something to herself that sounded like "That spot gifted me among the rarest Pokemon found in Fireweed Forest to raise... Calculations were correct in the end..."


(I'm down to reach Wineberry now too, but I'll head to bed now. Bye~)

[Dragonstrike]

"I'll meet you guys at the library if you want to go and do your own thing in the meantime...I'll be fine on my own...you know I'm not one to go down easily...besides, I need to make a quick stop at the Center as well before we move on.  I don't have time to join you for seeing this 'natural magic,' regardless of what might be causing it."

Nathan's a pretty firm believer in everything having a reasonable explanation.  Yes, there were a lot of magical things pokemon could do, but aside from those, cases of magic usage, psychic powers, etc. that turn out to actually have some truth to them are very, very, very few in number.  Almost always, they involve a pokemon in some way, which certainly takes a massive edge off of how special they would be otherwise.

Nathan's going to head into town, to the Center to heal Grid and swap out the combee for Starmie and Porygon2 (and also inquire about Pinsir), then to the library to see what he can find on this 'Holon' region and Delta Species via books and online sources.  Also going to level Lore from 0 -> 1 for 6 EXP.  Assuming he has time and doesn't get interrupted by anything on the way there, of course.

[Iron]

You reach Wineberry Town in the late evening.

The Genesect statue is as you left it.

"Pinsir made a full recovery. No one came for him in three days, until a shelter for disobedient Pokemon sent someone to pick him up and adopt him. As far as I know, he's still there, in Stair City."

2 Insight + 3 Knowledge +1 Lore
(2)(2)(3)(2)(1)(6)

Wineberry's library isn't huge, but it does have a few references to Holon (which is both a city and a small region, much smaller than Creshire). At the heart of the region is a huge electromagnetic generator, which is somehow supposed to help locate a Mew. Apparently without success; this book at least does not mention any success, though it is somewhat out of date.

This electromagnetic force is the cause of Holon's Delta species. It's a sort of mutation, not at all related to evolution. This book comments that such forces are an affront to the natural power of Pokemon, in a way that an Evolutionary Stone is not, or a Porygon is not. Many Deltas from Holon are Steel Type, and the changes to the Pokemon's appearance are often minimal.

Unlike Houndour.

Since then, the term Delta has come to loosely apply to any species of Pokemon mutated beyond its common form. These are often just the result of genetic drift - it's natural, and inheritable. Isolation often plays a role. There's nothing less pure about them, unless some kind of experiment or unnatural force caused the drift.

Insight + Knowledge + Computers
(5)(1)(6)(2)(5)

Porygon2 also assists, trawling parts of the PC that are not easily accessible to users. He can't break through encryption without a bigger fight than this, or speedily plunder protected files, but he can steer his way into files that are simply not linked from anywhere. One such file mentions Delta Pokemon on only one line.

It's a file from the released Almanac electronic book/database. The page is concerned with unusual move combinations, as many pages of the Almanac seem to be - egg moves, TMs, that kind of thing. So it would basically list of the "?" moves in the Pokerole rules doc. This particular page only has unusual moves that you've already guessed, and then it includes this line:

Code:

Delta Pokemon are an overlooked source of unusual Pokemon moves. Scientists are currently researching what effects breeding might have on Delta Pokemon movelists.

[Dragonstrike]

"Strange...so there's both natural and unnatural cases of Delta Species...and Almanac is interested in trying to determine what effects breeding might have on their movepools..."  

Nathan's mumbling quietly to himself as he immerses himself in the research, jotting his findings down in a new section of his journal and ignoring all his other worries as he has made a habit of when he gets particularly stressed and has the resources available to do so.  He's pretty happy to see Porygon2 so enthusiastic with helping him out with this research.  Guess it finds the topic and/or task interesting?  It certainly looked rather happy about being able to help...

While it didn't answer many of his questions concerning Delta Houndour specifically, it did help him get a better understanding of just what a Delta Species is.  There's several different ways a pokemon can gain an unusual typing, though Nathan did have one interesting thought while reading all this...

Does that mean Genesect is technically an artificial Delta Species?  Team Plasma revived it from a fossil and modified it to the point where it became a Steel type, right?  Or does that not count because Bug/Steel Genesect is the only example of its species in existence currently?  Hmmm....

It's a pretty fair assumption that he's lost track of the time while doing all this research.  Shiva and Ventus are probably going to have to come get him...

[Lord Windos]

Upon arrival into Winesberry, Ventus (Along with Shiva, presumably) headed to the Pokémon Center with Nathan to heal their Pokemon, though the researcher pointedly ignored the young trainer's conversation with the Nurse about Pinsir. 'If I had known earlier about that man's unforgivable actions towards Nathan, I would had dived after him myself and slit his throat. To little to late for that now, though, and Nate forced me to promise not to slay that abominable wizard, so I have to suffer for my ignorance...' he thought, standing far enough away to both avoid Kirlia's empathy and his own resentment from seeping out and spoiling Nathan's mood.

When Nathan departed to the Library, the researcher headed with to the town's trading board and left up a written notice for the Heatmor he recently caught : Highly Intelligent Fire type, capable of using Human Items to a limited extent (Potions) , but has a problem with his temper. Has the ability Gluttoney, and knows the moves Incinerate, Hone Claws, Tackle, Fury Swipes, Lick, and Fire Spin. Willing to accept either a Pokémon of Equivicol value, or barter for it for money and items. Contact Details: {Insert Ventus' Phone Number Here} . Ventus then headed to the local market to purchase two more Potions and 1 Pokeball ($600 Poke Cost Total) to replenish his stock of items, and spending a fair amount of time browsing the local wares with Shiva (assuming she is sticking near him), seeing if anything interesting catches his eye.

After he was finished with shopping and checked his voice messages on his phone for offer on the fiery anteater (Insert Flashback to possible Exchange here), Ventus headed over to the Library to go check up on Nathan, as it has been quite awhile since he has heard back from the boy, and wanted to make sure he's ok. 'I doubt the Scimitars would attack him in such a public area, as they seem to prefer attacking a target when they are isolated or in unfavorable conditions, but I have to be absolutely sure that all is well with him. When you are treading through the den of lions, its best to be wary,' the paranoid researcher thought, entering the building and diving into the archives. During his search for his friend, he also took the time to look for any information pertaining to the local spices and herbs of Fireweed Forest and their medical uses, as well as texts pertaining to medicinal applications of Corsola Horns, and books on how to curb disobedience in Dragon types. While he knew a great deal about Dragon Pokémon due to his heritage, that didn't mean there was nothing else that he could learn about the mighty Type!

He eventually found Nathan hunched over a pile of books with a Laptop PC right beside him, totally absorbed in note taking an his research. The sight brought a rare nostalgic smile on his face, as it brought back memories of his own intense night of study, as he poured over Pokémon research texts and the latest books on Sociology to expand his knowledge on those fields of science.... "I trust that you skullduggery has been going well, judging by the amount of notes I see you have taken?" Ventus said aloud, leaning over his should to get a better look at them. Hopefully his quiet approach didn't startle the boy too much...

[Dragonstrike]

He eventually found Nathan hunched over a pile of books with a Laptop PC right beside him, totally absorbed in note taking an his research. The sight brought a rare nostalgic smile on his face, as it brought back memories of his own intense night of study, as he poured over Pokémon research texts and the latest books on Sociology to expand his knowledge on those fields of science.... "I trust that you skullduggery has been going well, judging by the amount of notes I see you have taken?" Ventus said aloud, leaning over his should to get a better look at them. Hopefully his quiet approach didn't startle the boy too much...

"Wah!"

Nathan almost falls out of his chair, taking his journal with him as he attempts to close it in his surprise!  Kirlia catches him, though, and makes a 'shush' gesture.

Quietly, "Ventus, stop doing that!  You're going to literally scare me to death one of these days!"

[Lord Windos]

"Wah!"

Nathan almost falls out of his chair, taking his journal with him as he attempts to close it in his surprise!  Kirlia catches him, though, and makes a 'shush' gesture.

Quietly, "Ventus, stop doing that!  You're going to literally scare me to death one of these days!"

The researcher looked quite apologetic for unintentionally startling his friend, and back a few steps away to give him some much needed space. "My sincerest apologies, Nate. I just noticed the intense amount of effort you were conducting this research project of yours, and honestly curious as to how it was progressing. You told me before that your quite a bibliophile in certain areas, but I didn't expect to see studying like I used to do all the time. Tell me, what has caught your interest so? As a researcher myself, I find myself curious as to what you discovered...." Ventus said, hands clasped together in front of him as he gave Nathan a inquisitive look and a slight smile on his face. If he knew what the boy was investigating, perhaps he could lend his own Insight into the matter....