[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

A Sand Castle Pokemon... This looks somewhat weird in her imagination and she could only tilt her head a tad in a faint confused-curious expression bit while awaiting Tandal's reply or Ventus saying something too. What comes next, a Pokemon being a mixture of a crab and an island? Eh, the Pokemon from Tandor that interest Shiva most is still their own Eeveelution, Nucleon... but she felt like keeping track of Pokemon from Tandor in her star-patterned journal. Mentally noting this, she can do so later.

[Iron]

"No cell reciption, you say?" *checks* "Oh hey, you're right... Well, just another reason to move on, no?"

Something was very weird about the atmosphere here at the camp if asking Shiva... The air was heavy and filled with a ton of feelings that did not really had anything to do with the swamp. "Nathan... There is nothing we can do about that just now, okay? Dagny should have things under control, so if your Mum might end up calling HER, she'll be informed."

"Besides... Ehm... We'll be hosting a guest today. And tomorrow, probably. Tandal, these are the people I mentioned towards you, those I travel with."

Tandal gives a bow from the neck to the party members who make eye contact with him. 

"I am Tandal Escartress. I gather supplies for the villages, including clay, peat, and herbs." He gestures with his oddly narrow shovel. "My Pokemon are with me, but of course this swamp is always dangerous. I am surprised to see so many of you make it so far, and guiding such heavy Pokemon."

"I am familiar with Arrowroot Village and it is nearly on my way. In repayment of my debt to Miss Shiva I would gladly guide you there. We are close to the civilized Route. From here, that is the fastest way. I think you could be in the village by tomorrow night."

"My surname indeed refers to the snail Pokemon, mighty totem of my ancestors. With its Sap Sipper or Grass Pelt abilities, massive size, and protective nature, none in the swamp can overcome it." He shows Shiva a little clay badge of the Pokemon, and nods at Heart's/Nathan's description. "There are many unique Pokemon of the Ground, Water, or Grass type in the swamp."

"And you, Mister Ventus, I can tell you are a mighty warrior by your bond with the flying serpent, Quetzoral. I will be honored to travel in your company. Quetzoral is a sacred creature to my ancestors, and it is very rare one allows itself to be seen. My spirits are lifted by the sight of this Pokemon in such clear view."

[Dragonstrike]

Tandal gives a bow from the neck to the party members who make eye contact with him. 

"I am Tandal Escartress. I gather supplies for the villages, including clay, peat, and herbs." He gestures with his oddly narrow shovel. "My Pokemon are with me, but of course this swamp is always dangerous. I am surprised to see so many of you make it so far, and guiding such heavy Pokemon."

"I am familiar with Arrowroot Village and it is nearly on my way. In repayment of my debt to Miss Shiva I would gladly guide you there. We are close to the civilized Route. From here, that is the fastest way. I think you could be in the village by tomorrow night."

"My surname indeed refers to the snail Pokemon, mighty totem of my ancestors. With its Sap Sipper or Grass Pelt abilities, massive size, and protective nature, none in the swamp can overcome it." He shows Shiva a little clay badge of the Pokemon, and nods at Heart's/Nathan's description. "There are many unique Pokemon of the Ground, Water, or Grass type in the swamp."

Sap Sipper and Grass Pelt?  Wait a second...

"So the snail pokemon lives in this swamp too, huh?  Must be quite different from Tandor's variant, then.  I don't think I've ever heard of one of theirs having those abilities."

Hang on, if he's a local...

"Mind if I ask you a few questions, Mr. Escartress?"

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Potential arriving at the village tomorrow night!~ That sounds good. However, this also means another night spent in the swamp, trusting in Pokemon guarding and the tent fabric sprayed with Repels...Ugh. His job of gathering supplies for the villagers made Shiva all ears... Probably he got trapped in the sand while gathering peat? "Oh, you collect herbs? Do listen... On the way, would you care to notice me about any special plants that only grow here in the swamp? I already got a White Apricorn and some amount of arrowroot. Or, wait, you can tell me what can be done with these roots, if you know and agree... Eh, anyway, you stay with me along the way, please, meaning we'll both...guide... Alright?"

Unique Grass Types... Well, that huuuge Gloom was already unique enough, Vaporeon definitely counts as a special Pokemon too (at least for Shiva), and she actually was curious whatelse they'd see along the way... Mostly though, she was focused on that clay badge Tandal showed her. Ground/Water Type, but having Sap Sipper Ability - how interesting and clever. Worth noting later.

[Spiritmon]

"This is not possible. A Escartress with Sap Sipper ability? If I recall the only abilities Escartress is capable of use is Shell Armor, Sand Veil and Sand Stream as a Hidden Ability. I not exactly a genius in breeding like Shiva, but a Escartress with Sap Sipper? If this is possible..." Heart thinks for a second. "So that Escartress would might be the mostly resistance pokemon in the entire species, complete imune to any type of move, since Water/Ground have only one weakness: Grass. If such Pokemon exists..." Then Heart thinks for another second.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

"I'm... I'm no genius, Heart! That's just my field..." Embarassment increases a tad bit more.

[Iron]

"Call me Tandal. And go ahead."

[Dragonstrike]

"Call me Tandal. And go ahead."

"Alright, Tandal it is.  We're here looking for a specific location, and the only lead we have is some folklore from the local area.  Do you know anything about the 'ends of the earth' or the 'beginning of the land', or something that might be related to them?"

[Iron]

Potential arriving at the village tomorrow night!~ That sounds good. However, this also means another night spent in the swamp, trusting in Pokemon guarding and the tent fabric sprayed with Repels...Ugh. His job of gathering supplies for the villagers made Shiva all ears... Probably he got trapped in the sand while gathering peat? "Oh, you collect herbs? Do listen... On the way, would you care to notice me about any special plants that only grow here in the swamp? I already got a White Apricorn and some amount of arrowroot. Or, wait, you can tell me what can be done with these roots, if you know and agree... Eh, anyway, you stay with me along the way, please, meaning we'll both...guide... Alright?"

Unique Grass Types... Well, that huuuge Gloom was already unique enough, Vaporeon definitely counts as a special Pokemon too (at least for Shiva), and she actually was curious whatelse they'd see along the way... Mostly though, she was focused on that clay badge Tandal showed her. Ground/Water Type, but having Sap Sipper Ability - how interesting and clever. Worth noting later.

"Yes Miss! I'll point out any of them that you can use. If you let me know your interests, that would be better. Arrowroot is delicious, like a potato. We even call it the swamp potato. Or Ducklett Potato. In our folklore, the arrow shaped leaves can be bewitched to point the way to various things. It does not seem to work on peat and clay, though!" He laughs, a bit awkwardly.

"You can eat swamp potato raw, steamed, dried, boiled, or store it for months with the dirt still on it. The seeds are good when toasted. It cures fever, which is very common in our swamps. The water from boiling it can clean a wound. We use it to fertilize our few crops. There are other magical uses too, but I do not know anything about those. I am just a collector and swampman."

[Lord Windos]

(I'll just assume that Tandal Escartress introduced himself with his full name.)


"Ehm... *cough* Fine, now you know us people a bit... We're just a motley group of Trainer traveling this region. Everyone of us has their own reason to do, but we met up at Professor Mallorn's lab. Me and Ven - Ventus - come from Unova. Nathan grew up in Trillium Town, Valder is ... where is he actually? Off training his Haunter at the breaking night? ... native to Chreshire as well. Heart comes from...eh, Unova was the last region you visited, you mentioned? Currently we're on the way to Arrowroot Village due to some business." Right, 'business'. No need to tell Tandal over this prophecy or ask what he knows about the blasted vines unless it proves itself necessary.

"And... I was just as suprised as you people over meeting someone else in this swamp... I..." Hesitation to tell strikes, but at the same time Shiva just feels delighted and indeed a tab bit proud that she was able to accomplish something only with the help of her Pokemon - similar like when earning a Gym Badge. "I was... a little away from the main path, collecting more arrowroot, when some cry for help has been carried to me... Nonelse was there. Just me, and someone needing help somewhere nearby... Investigating, I encountered Tandal here, trapped in a patch of nasty quicksand. What a desperate situation! But... I couldn't just leave him there, you know... And, I managed to get him out of there, only with my Pokemon on hand... Tropius is not with me right now, so I had to do it without a flying Pokemon. But... It, well, it wooorked!! I didn't got trapped by myself during the process, Tandal's free now and I offered him to come with us for a little, and he said something like being in my debt now. That whole thing... my, that was quite scary, but quite awesome? I guess? Like, so much adrenaline..."

Next, she stopped mid-talking and fainted avoided the other's eyecontact as she realized what she was actually talking about. But, she did so with a just as faint smile. Was still an embarrasing situation though...

The mystery/curiosity over his dear friend nervous/flustered yet elated mood was soon dispelled when she revealed to the group about her bold, daring, high risk and (in his opinion) epic rescue of Tandel from a pit of viscous quicksand, saving him and his Pokémon's live in the process! Ventus was frankly struck speechless by Shiva's clever heroism and the clever methods in which she extracted the forager/fronteersman , staring at her with a purely dazzled look, while Lilith just looked back and forth between the two individual with a befuddled expression instead. Yeah, the nice woman saved a man's life (one that seemed to worship her to boot, hmpt!) , but since nobody else was making a big deal out of this she didn't quite understand why her trainer was reacting so weirdly about this.....

Raphael, however, who overheard the mystical lass' story as well from their position of the sky, mirrored their master's reaction of shock and surprise, but that feeling soon transformed into pure joy over such a wonderful accomplish! With a smile and chirp, the archangel swooped down from on high to land right in front of her, before enveloping them into a great big hug with its wings! Shiva deserved no less than to be celebrated for her great deed in the Jubalie Pokémon's opinion, and what better way to do so than friendly embrace from it?. The sight/emotions of his child snapped the empath out of his stupor, his expression rapidly transformation into one of pride, which was mainly demonstrated by his intense and beaming smile . "That's....that's.....that's spectacular news, Shiva! Amazing, wonderous, and most certainly miraculous news indeed! Saving this man's life in spite of the stacked odds against you.....I'm so very, very proud of you, my dearest friend, and it appears Raphael share similar sentiment as well!!" he all but joyfully shouted at her, his smile now quite earnest with his own feeling of positivity over his blessed friend's accomplishment this day! Saving a person's life.....what a wonderful way to end a day!

Tandal gives a bow from the neck to the party members who make eye contact with him. 

"I am Tandal Escartress. I gather supplies for the villages, including clay, peat, and herbs." He gestures with his oddly narrow shovel. "My Pokemon are with me, but of course this swamp is always dangerous. I am surprised to see so many of you make it so far, and guiding such heavy Pokemon."

"I am familiar with Arrowroot Village and it is nearly on my way. In repayment of my debt to Miss Shiva I would gladly guide you there. We are close to the civilized Route. From here, that is the fastest way. I think you could be in the village by tomorrow night."

"My surname indeed refers to the snail Pokemon, mighty totem of my ancestors. With its Sap Sipper or Grass Pelt abilities, massive size, and protective nature, none in the swamp can overcome it." He shows Shiva a little clay badge of the Pokemon, and nods at Heart's/Nathan's description. "There are many unique Pokemon of the Ground, Water, or Grass type in the swamp."

"And you, Mister Ventus, I can tell you are a mighty warrior by your bond with the flying serpent, Quetzoral. I will be honored to travel in your company. Quetzoral is a sacred creature to my ancestors, and it is very rare one allows itself to be seen. My spirits are lifted by the sight of this Pokemon in such clear view."

Once Ventus has calmed down from his excited state over his dearest friend heroism, they transferred their smile over to Tandel and nodding his head most amicably at his statement, pipping in his own commentary occasionally. "Well, this isn't the first swamp most of us had to ford through, we have several  people including myself that has ample experience in navigating wild or treacherous environments, and all of us have powerful Pokémon to help ward of the worst of the dangerous threats here! (...) Fascinating! I do believe this is yet another Pokémon I'm unfamiliar with, and it seems this one in particular is a formidable and much venerate one! Do tell us more about it, if you could! (...) *Small bit of chuckling, before briefly turning to address Lilith* It seems their will be no end to your admirers, my sister, especially if you have deific status in the local's history! *Turns back to Tandel*  Well, I do know how to defend myself and others with a great degree of confidance, but I'm hardly a 'mighty warrior!' Still, I too am honor by such praise, and am equally delighted to journey with you to Arrowroot, and perhaps beyond if our group's travels take us beyond!"

The man's comment's about the mystical quality of Arrowroot earned him a slight frown from the paranoid researcher, but they decided not to make a big fuss about this and cause a scene, since he wasn't actively trying to get the group to practice witchcraft and appeared to be mostly ignorant of that dubious aspect of the swamp plant.