[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

Terra doesn't have much to contribute to this conversion/decision besides what he's currently doing, so he just remained silent throughout it all, though he does start frowning thoughtfully when the....complicated situation was revealed. Unlike Nathan or Shiva, he doesn't have family issues and/or a supreme dedication/affinity/respect for Pokémon, so the thought of breaking up the odd family was mostly up to personally preference. Additionally, since Nathan caught the Ditto, it was (to him) entirely their decision to deal with them as he may, so how he and the other group members felt about the matter didn't....well, matter, in his opinion. The end result was the rugged wanderer choosing to keep his peace presently, not getting involved beyond preforming his duty, and remaining decidedly neutral on the whole issue. Simple!

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Shiva's smiling at Umbreon, but she's not sure whether she can give him a positive answer in this case. "You wish for the truth, precious Umbreon? Then......." Her voice breaks, she sighs heavily, looks rather defeated and to a good degree, pathetic and full of self-loathing as she lets her head hang again. "I can't tell you, dear one, as I'm not sure myself. I'm so sorry... So....."

".....sorry...... All of it..." These tiny words are adressed to Nathan. "I WISH to.... trust you again, be friends with you again... But it's not easy in the slightest." ... "It's all so.... hard. Why...?!" She heavily gulps back a sob.

...

"...Shiva, you know how much family and friends mean to me, and...why that is...I don't know why Umbreon's question is so hard for you to answer..."

Another sigh from Nathan.  He seems like he has more to say, but...now's not the time to answer the 'why?' that Shiva posed.  He'd also say something to Umbreon right now, but...he seems to be waiting for Shiva to say something in response.

(Does that change Shiva's answer to Umbreon any?)

(It does in some way.)


These words hit Shiva hard as they seem to go the direct way into her sensitive heart, inflicting more pain to it. At what point has this cave trip taken such an emotional turn?? In fact, she's having a harder and harder time to not weep in sheer anguish.

".... I do ", she responds in a very quiet voice, but it somehow still echoes loudly in the cave. "You told me, I've always been there to listen. To provide comfort when needed, to just lend an ear and encouraging words... Yet you haven't ever asked how important family is to ME. I shrugged it off, proceeded to act as the bastion of calm. I've been okay. Friends...."

She can't help but to let out a toneless and weak chuckle at that, depleted of any joy.

"I've seen you a friend. Maybe we'd even become good ones if you wouldn't have hurt me by stressing out Ventus so much and.... a... you know the other reasons maybe, I don't quite get WHY things have gone that way if I've been a friend for you. I... I wished to return these sentiments, but it became harder and harder for me, you see....? But it all...."

".... it all does NOT excuse how I've closed myself off towards you, bit by bit. I'm so... so sorry for that, when you don't deserve that..." Self-loathing is a painful thing, and Shiva has actually hoped to not experience it again for quite a while, but she has been so blatantly wrong. It hurts so much - and she can't really do anything to ease it.


Except....

...She looks up to the boy then, maybe suprisingly in this situation; but she's smiling very weakly. Faint streaks of bitter tears stain the honesty in her expression. "Ancestor Cave is fine place to do a new beginning, to take a fresh start, to reset and try to rebuild things from a new base, now is it....? Hand me that Ditto, and I'll... I'll, well..." --- The voice in her mind encourages her in mild words, assures that what she thinks is the right thing to do here IS the right thing - hopefully it's speaking truth to her ---"...I'll do my best to oversee these issues of the past we've had, to do whatever I can to ban them into the darkest corners of my memory, where they'll rot until they may be forgotten if time does indead heal all wounds.... I don't know, ah, whether THIS is what you want, but that's all I can offer to you: Friendship. Peace. Forgiving if all goes well, trust... If you'd only let me have........"

"Umbreon, have you listened to me...? Now, maybe if you believe my words then you know that he can be trusted, and maybe, NO - probably If I'm having you, your young and Ditto by my side, I will as well...."

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

These words hit Shiva hard as they seem to go the direct way into her sensitive heart, inflicting more pain to it. At what point has this cave trip taken such an emotional turn?? In fact, she's having a harder and harder time to not weep in sheer anguish.

".... I do ", she responds in a very quiet voice, but it somehow still echoes loudly in the cave. "You told me, I've always been there to listen. To provide comfort when needed, to just lend an ear and encouraging words... Yet you haven't ever asked how important family is to ME. I shrugged it off, proceeded to act as the bastion of calm. I've been okay. Friends...."

She can't help but to let out a toneless and weak chuckle at that, depleted of any joy.

"I've seen you a friend. Maybe we'd even become good ones if you wouldn't have hurt me by stressing out Ventus so much and.... a... you know the other reasons maybe, I don't quite get WHY things have gone that way if I've been a friend for you. I... I wished to return these sentiments, but it became harder and harder for me, you see....? But it all...."

".... it all does NOT excuse how I've closed myself off towards you, bit by bit. I'm so... so sorry for that, when you don't deserve that..." Self-loathing is a painful thing, and Shiva has actually hoped to not experience it again for quite a while, but she has been so blatantly wrong. It hurts so much - and she can't really do anything to ease it.


Except....

...She looks up to the boy then, maybe suprisingly in this situation; but she's smiling very weakly. Faint streaks of bitter tears stain the honesty in her expression. "Ancestor Cave is fine place to do a new beginning, to take a fresh start, to reset and try to rebuild things from a new base, now is it....? Hand me that Ditto, and I'll... I'll, well..." --- The voice in her mind encourages her in mild words, assures that what she thinks is the right thing to do here IS the right thing - hopefully it's speaking truth to her ---"...I'll do my best to oversee these issues of the past we've had, to do whatever I can to ban them into the darkest corners of my memory, where they'll rot until they may be forgotten if time does indead heal all wounds.... I don't know, ah, whether THIS is what you want, but that's all I can offer to you: Friendship. Peace. Forgiving if all goes well, trust... If you'd only let me have........"

"Umbreon, have you listened to me...? Now, maybe if you believe my words then you know that he can be trusted, and maybe, NO - probably If I'm having you, your young and Ditto by my side, I will as well...."

...

...Nathan doesn't initially respond to Shiva.

Instead, he gestures for Grid to stand back and kneels in front of Umbreon.

"...I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, Umbreon.  My own father disappeared a few years ago, so...I understand the pain and fear and confusion...and I apologize for putting you through it unintentionally...and I can assure you that I definitely don't have any reason to keep Ditto, so I promise you I won't be keeping them.  As you can see, though...Shiva has her heart set on befriending you and your family if she can, and making you a part of hers.  All of you, I can guarantee it, and she takes very good care of her pokemon.  So the only question I have for you is: is that okay with you?  I can't speak for Shiva, but I'll respect whatever you decide on.  Promise."

He'll ask Umbreon for Shiva one more time.  He then stands, hands the Ultra Ball containing Ditto to Shiva, and backs off to lend credence to his words about not keeping Ditto for himself.

He put in some good words for Shiva and apologized for his blunder.  It's out of his hands now.  He wants to trust Shiva in this situation, but will Umbreon do the same?

[Iron]

Ok, so the proposal now is keeping the family all under Shiva's care, leaving the cave, and heading off together as a family. That and some other factors you'll find out soon will erase the penalties on Empathy.

(6)(5)(1)(2)(2)(3) (1)(5)(2) = 3 successes
(3)(1)(3)(2)(5)(5)(2) = 2 successes

They agree to come along, looking very tentative for now. They linger near the entrance of the cave. They seem to get along fine with the Meowth packs, but while Ray is lighting up the cave they'll lurk back here at the entrance. From there, we'll see how it goes!

Gotcha! Ditto was caught!
The OT will be Nathan's.
Obedience is now 2/1/1.
Ability is Limber.
This Pokemon has a tendency to revert to a female Umbreon. It can do this for free once per day, no rolls, and it always goes to sleep in this form.

Gotcha! Eevee was caught! It'll need a ball eventually, as will Umbreon.
2/2/1
Adaptability
All it knows is Tackle and Sand Attack.

Gotcha! Umbreon was caught!
1/1/2
Synchronize
0xp moves, Sand Attack, Quick Attack, Feint Attack, Assurance, Confuse Ray, Moonlight, Mean Look, Last Resort.


Looking around the cave, Shiva actually notes that one of the murals, all mixed up like an Alph puzzle, represents an Eevee or a Flareon in an Ancient style. Some of the other murals have feline or canine features, too. There are ten in all.


Heart sees, at the back of the cave, a big carving in the ground. It's new, probably not a week old. It's brutally carved, maybe with a high powered Pokemon attack or other energy. It looks like a big checkmark or squared falchion weapon:


Alert: *rolls*
(Lucky Chant has worn off). Looking at that symbol, you're seeing the gleam of minerals has been uncovered by the impromptu digging.


Terra, with high Survival, notices a few Star Pieces stabbed into the cave, arranged like art. They look recent too.

[Dragonstrike]

...well, this trip certainly did not go how Nathan expected it to.  At all.  On the bright side, Ditto is barely even scratched.  Only took 1 point of damage, the Confusion and Disable wore off as soon as it was captured, and the Paralysis also wore off as soon as Ditto was captured because of Limber and the Transformation also ending when Ditto was captured.

He nods quietly to himself when Umbreon and Eevee decide to go with Shiva along with Ditto.  Okay, good...he apparently didn't screw up royally...that's...good...and the family is still together...that's...great...he has a feeling that Ditto and Umbreon won't breed with any pokemon besides each other, to be honest...what a weird thing to think about...

...

"...there ya go, Shiva.  Apology acepted."

That's all he says for now. He has no reason to believe Shiva's not being earnest, but...he needs to think on what she said for a little while...

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

Now, the whole purpose of this trip for Nathan was to capture some stuff so he could get his Claw Fossil revived.  That hasn't been done yet.  Nathan would still like to catch a few of those Unown still for Laurelin if possible. (lol, and everyone except him has gotten at least one new pokemon from this cave trip. Just yet another reason to double down on getting that Anorith/Armaldo revived.)

But of course, there's also shiny stuff in the cave to be had.  Should probably check that out first before potentially provoking the local wildlife further.

So...a big carving that looks rather like a sword?  Hmmm...does it share any similarities to the glowing sword Nathan was holding in the vision he saw?

[Spiritmon]

Spoiler

Ok, so the proposal now is keeping the family all under Shiva's care, leaving the cave, and heading off together as a family. That and some other factors you'll find out soon will erase the penalties on Empathy.

(6)(5)(1)(2)(2)(3) (1)(5)(2) = 3 successes
(3)(1)(3)(2)(5)(5)(2) = 2 successes

They agree to come along, looking very tentative for now. They linger near the entrance of the cave. They seem to get along fine with the Meowth packs, but while Ray is lighting up the cave they'll lurk back here at the entrance. From there, we'll see how it goes!

Gotcha! Ditto was caught!
The OT will be Nathan's.
Obedience is now 2/1/1.
Ability is Limber.
This Pokemon has a tendency to revert to a female Umbreon. It can do this for free once per day, no rolls, and it always goes to sleep in this form.

Gotcha! Eevee was caught! It'll need a ball eventually, as will Umbreon.
2/2/1
Adaptability
All it knows is Tackle and Sand Attack.

Gotcha! Umbreon was caught!
1/1/2
Synchronize
0xp moves, Sand Attack, Quick Attack, Feint Attack, Assurance, Confuse Ray, Moonlight, Mean Look, Last Resort.


Looking around the cave, Shiva actually notes that one of the murals, all mixed up like an Alph puzzle, represents an Eevee or a Flareon in an Ancient style. Some of the other murals have feline or canine features, too. There are ten in all.


Heart sees, at the back of the cave, a big carving in the ground. It's new, probably not a week old. It's brutally carved, maybe with a high powered Pokemon attack or other energy. It looks like a big checkmark or squared falchion weapon:


Alert: *rolls*
(Lucky Chant has worn off). Looking at that symbol, you're seeing the gleam of minerals has been uncovered by the impromptu digging.


Terra, with high Survival, notices a few Star Pieces stabbed into the cave, arranged like art. They look recent too.

Looking at the carving, Heart was cleary curious. "Interesting. Thats something you do not see everyday." Heart aproach that carving and grab to feel the details or hold for a while and see the balance of the artefact. (Something happen with that action @Iron?)

[Iron]

...well, this trip certainly did not go how Nathan expected it to.  At all.  On the bright side, Ditto is barely even scratched.  Only took 1 point of damage, the Confusion and Disable wore off as soon as it was captured, and the Paralysis also wore off as soon as Ditto was captured because of Limber and the Transformation also ending when Ditto was captured.

He nods quietly to himself when Umbreon and Eevee decide to go with Shiva along with Ditto.  Okay, good...he apparently didn't screw up royally...that's...good...and the family is still together...that's...great...he has a feeling that Ditto and Umbreon won't breed with any pokemon besides each other, to be honest...what a weird thing to think about...

...

"...there ya go, Shiva.  Apology acepted."

That's all he says for now.  He has no reason to believe Shiva's not being earnest, but...he needs to think on what she said for a little while...

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

Now, the whole purpose of this trip for Nathan was to capture some stuff so he could get his Claw Fossil revived.  That hasn't been done yet.  Nathan would still like to catch a few of those Unown still for Laurelin if possible. (lol, and everyone except him has gotten at least one new pokemon from this cave trip.  Just yet another reason to double down on getting that Anorith/Armaldo revived.)

But of course, there's also shiny stuff in the cave to be had.  Should probably check that out first before potentially provoking the local wildlife further.

So...a big carving that looks rather like a sword?  Hmmm...does it share any similarities to the glowing sword Nathan was holding in the vision he saw?

The shiny stuff in the carving turns out to be a white (Normal) TM. Wait, no, three TMs! The Pokedex says they are all Hidden Power.

No, this carving is very crudely done, but the sword it represents is a brutal hacking sword, almost a machete. Whereas the glowing sword was a fine longsword, like a nobleman would have.

I remind you that this carving is not old, it's not an artifact. It looks more like vandalism. Furthermore, stretching your memories way back to the Great River, you've seen this symbol before: it turned out to be the symbol of the Scimitars! Shiva for sure has seen it, and I believe she described it for Nathan. Terra hasn't seen it yet, and I don't know if Heart has seen it yet. Some Scimitars wear it on their robes, so perhaps he's had a small glimpse.


Terra is gathering up the Star Pieces. He gathers enough to sell for $9800! I need to know how these are being carried out of the cave - by hand, in Pokeballs, in bags?

[Iron]

Each trainer receives 6XP from this, and 12XP to divide among their Pokemon who were out.
Shiva and Nathan get +1 XP.

Tanukizoon and Ambipom both picked up more TMs!! Tanuki found Signal Beam and Ambipom found Dragon Pulse.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

He'll ask Umbreon for Shiva one more time.  He then stands, hands the Ultra Ball containing Ditto to Shiva, and backs off to lend credence to his words about not keeping Ditto for himself.

He put in some good words for Shiva and apologized for his blunder.  It's out of his hands now.  He wants to trust Shiva in this situation, but will Umbreon do the same?

Ok, so the proposal now is keeping the family all under Shiva's care, leaving the cave, and heading off together as a family. That and some other factors you'll find out soon will erase the penalties on Empathy.

They agree to come along, looking very tentative for now. They linger near the entrance of the cave. They seem to get along fine with the Meowth packs, but while Ray is lighting up the cave they'll lurk back here at the entrance. From there, we'll see how it goes!

Shiva fails to hold the sobs and sniffles and silent tears back as she looks up once more from the ground to see - and feel - the Ultra Ball containing the mother of the small family in her trembling hand. She seems unable to even speak a word or make a different sound than heartfelt and pained sobbing, but she made a small movement into Nathan's direction that indicated that she would have fallen around his neck in sheer thankfulness if she hadn't backed off already and was therefor out of reach.

When both the male Umbreon and his (we'll make Eevee a male exemplar if that's okay) son very carefully came up to her as if to emphasize that they wish to stay together, she must have found her voice back:

"Nathan... Thank you... Thank you...so much. Rest assured that what you've done here will not be forgotten...." Her voice was weak, defeated and still full of self-blame and -loathing, but in the very moment young Eevee shyly placed a small paw on her knee it felt like the reset-button has been pushed. All timidly she pets his head with a still trembling hand, but her touch is soft.

She leaves the small family alone for now at the entrance, summons Dittumbreon to be with them even while Litwick gets send to Bill's PC. Before she turns towards the murals depicting felines though, she places a Nanab Berry and some of Cottonee's fluff in front of them alongside her remaining 2 Safari Balls. "I'm so sorry for the wrong assumption, you all... But... Thank you. Just thank you for giving me a chance. I promise that I'll take good care of you, help you raising your young, Umbreon... For now, I'll let you have your peace and recover a little from the stress of the battle. When we all head back to town again I'll register you to these Balls, but until then... Enjoy your food." She then turns away to give the small family some privacy as promised while Delphox comes out of his Ball again. (Do they accept the Berry and the fluff as some sort of offer of peace or how do they react?)

Looking around the cave, Shiva actually notes that one of the murals, all mixed up like an Alph puzzle, represents an Eevee or a Flareon in an Ancient style. Some of the other murals have feline or canine features, too. There are ten in all.

With that said and done and some remaining tears dried with the sleeve of her Ranger's Cloak, Shiva was actually all up to help catching some of these tiny Unknown - though when she spotted the others investigating the murals in the cave at first, she shrugged it off and decided to join; so she more casually let her gaze wander over the walls.

One of these paintings especially caught her interest/curiosity, and she faintly gasped as she realized what it represents: Some ancient Eevee or Flareon alongside some other feline/canine(?) creatures... Humm, if it's like that puzzle in Alph Ruins or that one within Mount Sentry, she's definitely trying to solve  it via putting it back together, if it grants a bonus with Azumarill lending her a Helping Hand or Delphox reviving the Chant.

[Iron]

This puzzle looks easier than the Sentry ones, since it doesn't have rotating cubes. It's still 8x8 and it'll take some time.

Insight + Knowledge3)(3)(4)(3)(5)(4) (4)(5)(1)

You're almost positive you know how this puzzle will go together, if you're given ten minutes. I'll resolve it once I know what the group is gonna do in that time.