[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Nylon]

It only takes you about twenty minutes to reach the source of Mr. Finder's pursued scent. In a little tunnel, as unremarkable as any other, the rough floor suddenly becomes worked gray stone. Similar to a patio you might find in any backyard...except for the mansized ebony pillar rising from its center, almost to the ceiling. The pillar is unornamented, aside from a slight spiral ledge around it. The area feels no different, though the gravity is still very high. No sense of power emanates from the stone.

@Nylon Valder knows the runes to place on this stone. Ready?

 I am, I think.

[Iron]

When those runes are etched onto the stone, the tunnel becomes even more silent. A Vigoroth and a Slowbro waddle up behind the party and act like they're standing in a queue, waiting. Geodude comes too. The air becomes thick with power, and the runes age right before your eyes. Little flecks of lichen grow on them, they erode noticeably, a few chips appear. A cylindrical depression sinks into the top of the pillar.

Calam looks pleased, so Dizzy looks pleased too. Gothitelle has her arms thrown back - soaking in the feeling of immense power. Kirlia is grim. The other sensitive Pokemon just look excited.

In complete silence, the pillar begins sinking into the ground, widening as it goes. It forms a staircase of black stone, spiralling into nothingness. The Vigoroth gestures you forward, and you all descend into the pit. Your feet don't even make a sound on the stone steps.

At some point in your timeless descent, you realize you are looking DOWN toward the tunnel of Mt. Sentry. Above you, the direction you now climb, you see a featureless sky. You step up out of the pit, and the staircase folds itself into another patio.

To the west, the patio becomes a beautiful stone plaza, surrounded by a Barrier of psychic force. Designs of fossil and Primal Pokemon are worked into the floor, much like the puzzles in the Ruins of Alph. Each stone glitters with a smooth polish. Thrusting up from the center of the plaza is a structure that can only be the Gauntlet. It's shaped like a clenched fist on the end of a thick arm, knotted with muscles. Runes cover it, in the same style as the Relic Stone, and it's the same obsidian material. The fist is plated with steel.

North of the plaza is a dilapidated shack. It's literally falling apart, with planks, nails, and guttering frozen in midair where they've begun to fall. Apricorn bushes grow around it, partially obscuring it from view. A lake glimmers all around it, trickling out into the grouting of the plaza.

You're unable to go that way due to the forcefield.

The force field seems to emanate from a low wall running east-west. At its eastmost point, it rises to be a grandiose stone staircase, the envy of any courthouse or capital building on the planet. White marble pillars follow the stairs in geometric precision, and more at the landing. Set into each pillar of the landing pillars, in a little nook, is one of these:

There are six in all.

Four of the pillars contain red Apricorns.

Behind the landing is a huge white door. Living Unown hang out above it, recessed into the marble archway.


The door is locked with four keyholes. A bunch more Carbink are hanging out above the doorway, smiling.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Quick Flashback!~

Spoiler

"I dont know about you guys, but after so much ambushes, I will love to get some vacation after we done here. I hope we found that library soon enough...I will need train Gollet soon when we return soon, since I will challenge Tanuki. This time I am prepare with that a all powerfull Legendary TM. My chances of winning raise quite a lot."

Well, Nathan was going to stay quiet, but...

"...*ahem*...HM, not TM...and there are a few...important details concerning them I need to inform everyone about when we get back to the surface..."

Heart blush a little for the confusion. "Heh, sorry. I sometimes get confused with nomeclature between HM and TM. I dont like the sound about you say with "important details", but I guess we will be okay. Sure, you can tell us when we return to the surface Warren. I would like to ask you something: Do you guys want me to go foward to check if we may find any other kind of surprise? Just send me the word and I scout ahead."

The whole time Shiva remains in that silent and awed stance while looking up the edge of the ebony pillar and holding Cottonee safely in her arms, she's only half-listening to what has been said. But at the ask whether Heart should scout ahead, she intuitively and vigorously shakes her head.

She's gonna be busy as soon as they're all back at the surface. Like, super-busy... Several members of the group have asked her for a specific battle or movetutoring, she needs to speak with various people, agree trades and the like, train, Ventus owes her a making-up and if all goes well, she will have two Gym Battles shortly after the other.

[Dragonstrike]

Well, it certainly looks more like a Relic Stone now, that's for sure...

Interesting that Kirlia seems to be the one pokemon that isn't excited or happy about this.  Just...grim.

In any case, Nathan can't really bring himself to be excited about this, either.  There's an air of seriousness around him, just like with Kirlia.  But it's not out of distatse as with Ventus.  It's more...purposeful.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"...well, we're here.  I don't think I need to tell you guys what those Elder Unown are spelling."

Atheneum: Spirit Temple Remix by Field of Reeds - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Strangely, Nathan doesn't feel a chill in this place.  Very little about this place makes any logical sense, from the lack of background noises, to suddenly being underground but...not...  

Looking around, Nathan notices a few things besides the building that catch his interest.

- One: There's Red Apricorns growing here.  If he could get one or two, that'd be nice for later...

- Two: The statues.  Wait, aren't those...?  He's not quite sure, though...he's never seen anything like that in person before...only ever read about them...

- Three: the Carbink.  That brings Nathan a twinge of...regret and sadness, seeing them, since they remind him of the Carbink they encountered on the way here...

- Four: The Gauntlet.  That's certainly impressive looking.  And it definitely looks like some kind of variation of a Relic Stone...

- Five: A psychic force field, much like the one that trapped Mesprit, preventing them from moving on to investigate most of the above...

"...so...I guess we need to get that force field dispelled if we're going to progress.  Some kind of Psychic pokemon is probably generating it...those Apricorns are probably marking something important, too...four Apricorns...four keyholes...hmmm..."

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

With even more awe Shiva watched as Valder skillfully etched the runes into/onto the precious black Stone - it looked so naturally as he was doing that, whoahw... That was nothing in comparison to the pure veil of silence that seemingly has been laid over all of them afterwards. This silence, this immense feeling of power - following the example of her Gothitelle, she tried to soak up this sensation and the quietness, despite the air was thick it gave her a....weirdly pleasant feeling. To her, it was raw and pure, and in no means dangerous or harmful.

That figurative cloak engulfing any sound remained as she made her way down into that nothingness, at first she was slightly worried over setting a foot onto this staircase, well aware that there will be no way back anymore once she has done so. But, taking a deep breath, she reassured herself that this is what they came for, this was the first step into the destination of the long loooong journey - the journey was hard and effortful, and its end came into sight. Several times she has asked herself how long they'll be traveling through Mount Sentry to reach THIS point - and now, when having done so, she hesitated...? N-No way! And so, she rather boldly let the first step of the staircase behind herself, then another, and another, descending deeper and deeper.......


She has lost the sense of how long she was walking down the stairs among Cottonee/Dizzy/Gothitelle and the others of the group as that....that SKY caught her completely off-guard. Like, COMPLETELY ! How could that be??? H-how.... Psychic power? Might and knowledge from another world? Have they reached the matrix and reality is bending? Where have these stairs brought them? This sky being so featureless didn't prevented her from starring up to it with a massive frown, partly caused by confusion and partly by wonder. The open sky.... How she missed it....

Letting her gaze wander, one wonder chased the other - the GAUNTLET! Right before them!! A heavy gasp escaped her as she remembered what the wise Slowking has told them:
"The Stone before my eyes, carved with symbols, seeming to writhe and move.
As I passed through, I stood ere the Gauntlet, and it did not try me nor test me, yet I resolved to place my hand upon it and became heartened.
Atheneum within sight. Guardians, six fell statues, and four Apricorn fruits above.
They did try me and test me, plying me for word and deed, and at last I passed through those secret gates."

More to herself but audible for the others, she muttered something like "That...means we have to touch it, I guess..... A-any volunteers?" Actually, Shiva is highly curious about this 'being heartened' = what will happen upon touching it, but she seems to be too insecure to just DO it. :C (But she gets close to it to get a detailed look at it and the runes that cover it.)

These bluish statues she recognized almost immediately as the very same are standing in a particular place in the desert north of her hometown.

'Atheneum'.... That shack behind the forcefield..... Is it? It can only be the case.... Whoahw, Shiva has imagined the place so wastly different. Looks old... But these Apricorn Bushes partly obscurring it catch her interest. Will it be trees containing the sort she's after...? Once there, she'll at least attempt to obtain some... Will the shack protest when she will try to gather a fruit of the trees surrounding it? Will it allow her to touch the water of the lake?

For now though, Shiva can only place her hands at this psychic forcefield and watch the shack with its trees and lake, a little sad over how near and simultaneously far away it is.......

Once she has gotten enough of the sight, she unglues herself from the invisible wall and joyfully runs up the precious and noble stairs alongside Gothitelle to turn again to the Darmantian Statues. She is aware of the secret that offered Candy may awake them.... Candy made in Mahogany City in particular, but she has never tried that herself in the desert. She didn't have some of these.... But does one of her infamous pirsif berry cookies allure any reaction from them? And, does anything happen when Shiva touches a pillar bearing a Red Apricorn? There must be...keys for that locked door...

In short, she already loves this bizzarre place, although she can't really explain why.

[Spiritmon]

"Wow...." Its all what Heart say when he have entered the room. The statues, the desigh of that place, the trees with apricorns...and that mysteryous gautlet. "Incredible. Simple incredible. Never in my life I would imagined have come to such place. These statues...they are fossil pokemon and other Primal beings! Kabutops, Omanyte, Carracosta...Incredible. Perhaps there is any Tandorian Fossil Pokemon? What kind of Primal pokemon there around here..."

Mechanic: Check the statues to see what kind of Primal and Fossil pokemon is depicture here! I curious to see what we might find here.

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

When those runes are etched onto the stone, the tunnel becomes even more silent. A Vigoroth and a Slowbro waddle up behind the party and act like they're standing in a queue, waiting. Geodude comes too. The air becomes thick with power, and the runes age right before your eyes. Little flecks of lichen grow on them, they erode noticeably, a few chips appear. A cylindrical depression sinks into the top of the pillar.

Calam looks pleased, so Dizzy looks pleased too. Gothitelle has her arms thrown back - soaking in the feeling of immense power. Kirlia is grim. The other sensitive Pokemon just look excited.

In complete silence, the pillar begins sinking into the ground, widening as it goes. It forms a staircase of black stone, spiralling into nothingness. The Vigoroth gestures you forward, and you all descend into the pit. Your feet don't even make a sound on the stone steps.

At some point in your timeless descent, you realize you are looking DOWN toward the tunnel of Mt. Sentry. Above you, the direction you now climb, you see a featureless sky. You step up out of the pit, and the staircase folds itself into another patio.

To the west, the patio becomes a beautiful stone plaza, surrounded by a Barrier of psychic force. Designs of fossil and Primal Pokemon are worked into the floor, much like the puzzles in the Ruins of Alph. Each stone glitters with a smooth polish. Thrusting up from the center of the plaza is a structure that can only be the Gauntlet. It's shaped like a clenched fist on the end of a thick arm, knotted with muscles. Runes cover it, in the same style as the Relic Stone, and it's the same obsidian material. The fist is plated with steel.

North of the plaza is a dilapidated shack. It's literally falling apart, with planks, nails, and guttering frozen in midair where they've begun to fall. Apricorn bushes grow around it, partially obscuring it from view. A lake glimmers all around it, trickling out into the grouting of the plaza.

You're unable to go that way due to the forcefield.

The force field seems to emanate from a low wall running east-west. At its eastmost point, it rises to be a grandiose stone staircase, the envy of any courthouse or capital building on the planet. White marble pillars follow the stairs in geometric precision, and more at the landing. Set into each pillar of the landing pillars, in a little nook, is one of these:

There are six in all.

Four of the pillars contain red Apricorns.

Behind the landing is a huge white door. Living Unown hang out above it, recessed into the marble archway.


The door is locked with four keyholes. A bunch more Carbink are hanging out above the doorway, smiling.

Ventus did not like Antheneum.

At all.
 
That was his general attitude he held towards the place ever since he heard of the unearthly power this mystical, arcane location, and being in it only reinforced that feeling.

Now that he was actually at and in the place, he could add one more ambient feeling to his mood.

Fear.

He wanted out of this place. To escape it, never look back, and condemn it once more to the lost timeless antiquity where it belonged, never again to be found by the foolish hands of man or Pokémon alike.

It was too late for that, though. He was stuck here with the rest of the group until they solved SOME of the mysteries of this secret library and secured it against the Scimitars, as he had sworn to do.

Didn't mean he was going to be even remotely happy about this duty, though.

He considered this whole quest by this point a dangerous, mandatory, and begrudging responsibility to keep Antheneum out of the Scimitars foul, corrupted mitts, not some epic, transformative journey like others would, and he was quite honestly done with having either by this point in his long, suffering life.

Still, he must endure this all. For the shake of himself......and the group.

Once his eyes landed on The Gauntlet, he knew it for what it was and took measures to be as far away as possible from the terrible thing. As he had said to the Slowking, becoming 'more' than human was a thoroughly wretched thing that he wanted no part of. Shiva's polar opposite reaction to the thing earned a sharp frown from the researcher, the disappointment and unease from her interest in it all but palpatable, but seeing as he would not go anywhere near the Gauntlet and would not/could not interfere with the group's desires to interact with hit, he let go to it unchallenged.

Make no mistake, he was still unhappy about it, but he has since learned that he couldn't control or protect everyone in the group as he would like on this journey and that coddling his girlfriend would only lead to disaster, so he could accept this.

For now.

Ventus was swift to immediately recognize the statues as either recreations of the Zen Mode form of Darmanitan, or the actual genuine article. It was hard to tell, given how both showed signs of visible life just as well as the other.

Right now, the sociologist choose to remain absolutely silent, keeping his own company away from the bulk of the group (and far away from The Gauntlet), pondering just how to get past these guardians and unlock the gates into Antheneum for them. Either that, or seal them si tightly that nothing would be able to enter or leave them ever again......

(I would like Insight Rolls of some kind for Ven to help solve the puzzles/clues, as I am notoriously bad at doing such organically except on rare occasions. Anything he can do to help without interacting with The Gauntlet, the better!)

[Iron]

"Wow...." Its all what Heart say when he have entered the room. The statues, the desigh of that place, the trees with apricorns...and that mysteryous gautlet. "Incredible. Simple incredible. Never in my life I would imagined have come to such place. These statues...they are fossil pokemon and other Primal beings! Kabutops, Omanyte, Carracosta...Incredible. Perhaps there is any Tandorian Fossil Pokemon? What kind of Primal pokemon there around here..."

Mechanic: Check the statues to see what kind of Primal and Fossil pokemon is depicture here! I curious to see what we might find here.

There are an awful lot of Slothohm mosaics. A Primal Altaria and Tropius. Suicune. Kyogre and Groudon in their primal form. Giratina in Griseous form. And some new Pokemon you haven't seen: some kind of weird Bisharp, a different Slowking with an extra large crown, a feathered Tyrantrum, and a Genesect with no drive or cannon, but extra limbs instead.

[Iron]

When Shiva touches a Red Apricorn, all the Zen statues light up mildly. The Apricorn goes semi-transparent when handled, showing a Klefki inside.

When Shiva approaches the statues, thoughts appear in her mind. The Guardians of Atheneum require you to prove your redeeming qualities by answering their riddles. You'll touch a Darmanitan and be offered its riddle via PM. Only you may try to answer the riddle, no discussing with the other party members (Google is fine though). You receive no knowledge as to the consequences of success or failure, but it sounds like some of the riddles will be metaphorical or moral in nature. You get one guess (synonyms count).

You psychically know the topics of the riddles. From left to right:

# 1. Combat! Not really a riddle!
# 2. Elements
# 3. First Steps
# 4. Effort
# 5. Sources of Power
# 6. Rulership

These will be treated like Encounters.

[Dragonstrike]

There are an awful lot of Slothohm mosaics. A Primal Altaria and Tropius. Suicune. Kyogre and Groudon in their primal form. Giratina in Griseous form. And some new Pokemon you haven't seen: some kind of weird Bisharp, a different Slowking with an extra large crown, a feathered Tyrantrum, and a Genesect with no drive or cannon, but extra limbs instead.

Oh?  Did someone say Tropius?  Out of curiosity, does this Primal Tropius look flightless?  Does that Genesect look like it might be related to the descriptions of the FTS Genesect?

And would Valder recognize the weird Bisharp?