[Meta thread] Iron's PokeRole Adventure: The Skull Ruins

[Dragonstrike]

Be careful though Terra. Rock types have terrible defenses, but they make up for power. Even with Terra powerful hide and Cosh spells, problems might happen.

Not in this tabletop game, where they often have gigantic Vitality stats (due to their naturally high Defense stats in the games).

And on top of that, pure Rock types aren't quite as terrible defensively as Ground/Rock types due to the lack of quad weaknesses (even though Grass, Water, Fighting, and Ground are all still really easy weaknesses to exploit).

[Dragonstrike]

With that, only you haven't chosen an Encounter yet, Dragonstrike! What catches your eye now, since everyone has made their choices?

Honestly, a lot of things.

- I'm concerned about Spira facing those Ghosts alone since his team isn't exactly geared towards fighting a large horde of enemies.  Hida is his only spread move user, and his Ghosts stand to take a lot of damage just from the virtue of taking SE damage (Machamp would have probably been fine if it weren't for all those Psychic types...).  Particularly since that encounter would have 100% been mandatory without the Repel and Cleanse Tags...the Scims and Marco's pokemon are here to help now, yes, but Mewostic should probably stay away from those Ghosts and Luxray's carrying Marco, so that leaves Skarmory (who does know Air Cutter but might use Night Slash instead) and Feraligatr (who could do a lot of chip damage, granted, but mostly uses single target moves and is the most likely to use Lethal force)

- Statues might be kinda neat to investigate
- Mural as well
- And the collapsed tomb.  Lots of history here for Nathan to potentially gawk at.

- ...and then there's the skeleton of a trainer who was apparently unfortunate enough to find themselves here previously. Could be some interesting stuff (of varying kinds) to find there as well...

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

Honestly, a lot of things.

- I'm concerned about Spira facing those Ghosts alone since his team isn't exactly geared towards fighting a large horde of enemies.  Hida is his only spread move user, and his Ghosts stand to take a lot of damage just from the virtue of taking SE damage (Machamp would have probably been fine if it weren't for all those Psychic types...).  Particularly since that encounter would have 100% been mandatory without the Repel and Cleanse Tags...the Scims and Marco's pokemon are here to help now, yes, but Mewostic should probably stay away from those Ghosts and Luxray's carrying Marco, so that leaves Skarmory (who does know Air Cutter but might use Night Slash instead) and Feraligatr (who could do a lot of chip damage, granted, but mostly uses single target moves and is the most likely to use Lethal force)

- Statues might be kinda neat to investigate
- Mural as well
- And the collapsed tomb.  Lots of history here for Nathan to potentially gawk at.

- ...and then there's the skeleton of a trainer who was apparently unfortunate enough to find themselves here previously.  Could be some interesting stuff (of varying kinds) to find there as well...

If all else fails, then just go with what Nathan would want to do most, which I believe would first be helping out a friend in need (Like Spira), or going over to investigate the skele of the trainer since I think that would override his interest in the ruins, given how much he cares for life like the average Cheshirian (or even more, imo). 

Ultimately, you do you, or you do Nathan, mate!

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

Honestly, a lot of things.

- I'm concerned about Spira facing those Ghosts alone since his team isn't exactly geared towards fighting a large horde of enemies.  Hida is his only spread move user, and his Ghosts stand to take a lot of damage just from the virtue of taking SE damage (Machamp would have probably been fine if it weren't for all those Psychic types...).  Particularly since that encounter would have 100% been mandatory without the Repel and Cleanse Tags...the Scims and Marco's pokemon are here to help now, yes, but Mewostic should probably stay away from those Ghosts and Luxray's carrying Marco, so that leaves Skarmory (who does know Air Cutter but might use Night Slash instead) and Feraligatr (who could do a lot of chip damage, granted, but mostly uses single target moves and is the most likely to use Lethal force)

- Statues might be kinda neat to investigate
- Mural as well
- And the collapsed tomb.  Lots of history here for Nathan to potentially gawk at.

- ...and then there's the skeleton of a trainer who was apparently unfortunate enough to find themselves here previously.  Could be some interesting stuff (of varying kinds) to find there as well...

If all else fails, then just go with what Nathan would want to do most, which I believe would first be helping out a friend in need (Like Spira), or going over to investigate the skele of the trainer since I think that would override his interest in the ruins, given how much he cares for life like the average Cheshirian (or even more, imo). 

Ultimately, you do you, or you do Nathan, mate!

Yeah, I was actually thinking about picking one of those two...but given Mika didn't really respond to my earlier concerns while he was online, that doesn't really help me with my decision any...hmmmm...

[Iron]

I feel drawn to that artistic Ratsy.  Though, Shiva would not want to outright start a battle, so is it possible that she'd take that Encounter without agressive Archnautilus?

Forgot to mention this - the Scims aren't interested in any of those Pokemon, so they don't apply to the cap. You can leave your Scim behind if you wish.

[Iron]

Also, did Angie fly down after everyone, or was she dropped into the lower layers too? Just curious, as she's capable of Digging after her papa if necessary!

She didn't need to dig, so she probably just slowly followed Terra after he was dropped. Might even have helped him land properly, as he's not the most dexterous in the group.

[Dragonstrike]

I feel drawn to that artistic Ratsy.  Though, Shiva would not want to outright start a battle, so is it possible that she'd take that Encounter without agressive Archnautilus?

Forgot to mention this - the Scims aren't interested in any of those Pokemon, so they don't apply to the cap. You can leave your Scim behind if you wish.

Given that Nathan, Heart, and Shiva aren't doing particularly tough encounters (assuming I pick an easy one as well), could the Scims/Marco's pokemon definitely help with the harder ones instead?

I'd kinda like an idea of who would be available to help Spira in the event Nathan doesn't take that encounter, tbh.

[Lord Windos]

Also, did Angie fly down after everyone, or was she dropped into the lower layers too? Just curious, as she's capable of Digging after her papa if necessary!

She didn't need to dig, so she probably just slowly followed Terra after he was dropped. Might even have helped him land properly, as he's not the most dexterous in the group.

Unfortunately, she didn't! Oh well, he was not harmed anyway!

[Iron]

Huh, I just remembered some important things: Solomon has FLASH and Yawn, and Posei has Hyponsis and Rain Dance. If I send them out with Michael, I could just put FLASH those blighters and put them all to Sleep, and have Cosh help crush the ones that are still awake! That would make things MUCH easier, for as we all know, Spore is Spore, and Spore is the best, so much so that it even mandated a rules update from Iron! If Posei's out, then Hyponsis could also work reasonably well, and if their's enough moisture in the air (IE: Is there, Iron), it could entirely cancel out Sand Stream! Those Gigies don't have any natural sleep canceling  Moves/Abilities, and they would have to waste actions to reset Sand if they have the Move, so they shouldn't have any Defense towards either tactic!

With that in mind, so you think it would still be a bad idea to take the Gigies on, Dragonstrike?

There actually is a bit of moisture in the air thanks to the Wishing Well being nearby. I'll allow Rain Dance at a -3 penalty.

[Lord Windos]

Yeah, I was actually thinking about picking one of those two...but given Mika didn't really respond to my earlier concerns while he was online, that doesn't really help me with my decision any...hmmmm...

Secondary fail-safe: just choose not to share an Encounter with Mika/Spira and leave him to fend for himself to both save you time and not potentially step on their toes. If he gets swamped, then he can flee or holler for anyone's help, since its somewhat implied that the room the group is in is not that big (so it would not take very long for anyone to rush over to his aid). Sound good?