[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Mikaruge108]

And that's another 5d6 roll for Luna; 3 spirits left til she evolves.

[Iron]

Oh I forgot I said only 1 dice. That's not nearly enough. 3 is the new answer!

The Great Ball and Ratsy disappear into the card. You can actually see Ratsy's shadow in the painting on the card now!

[Iron]

Spirit gather: (1)(5)(1)(1)(2)

The spirits apparently fled when they saw you KOing a zillion ghost Pokemon. Also, 1 spirit got away overnight as expected.


And with that, I think we're done with this set of Encounters!

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

The Great Ball and Ratsy disappear into the card. You can actually see Ratsy's shadow in the painting on the card now!

:O I'll edit things concerning the Fae Gems.

When Shiva spots the shadow of this Pokemon inside the card artwork, does think that this counts as 'having caught' this black artistic rodent? (I believe so, I guess?) She wouldn't want to leave without this creature, way too special to not take along. It's fine if the actual registering to a Ball or sharing of the Stats happens later, she simply doesn't want to miss the chance to call this Pokemon her own!
EDIT: Was this Encounter worth any XP?

[Iron]

You walk laterally among a cluster of chambers. This place has been heavily colonized by Ghost Pokemon - Duskull, Gastly, and especially Yamask are ubiquitous. In fact, you're seeing more and more Yamask as you go - hiding behind statues, hiding in the burial niches of burial chambers, or just poking their masks through the walls to eerily watch you as you go.

Unown-runes on the walls proclaim, "The King shall show the way. The King shall show the way. The King shall show the way." Often, this is punctuated by the sign of a purplish-pink Eye with a pastel-blue pupil.

Then you came to a place that caved in long ago, creating an area that is more rubble and dirt than hollow chamber. It's very rough going, but luckily Cosh has something of a map created from Almanac's sonar. Angie's Dig is also extremely helpful. You're still seeing the occasional proto-capture-web, formed by nature. Some look to be working and others do not.

Gallade seems to be getting agitated - he senses the proximity of an Artifact nearby, but also strong ghosts.

Terra, leading the way for the protection of the party, pokes his head through a hole dug by Angie. He reports back about a new room. It had collapsed like the others, but was carefully dug out. In fact, you see Yamask streaming by holding scoops of earth in their dead faces, continuing to excavate. Some also bear crystals or odd stones. All bear a mini key in each hand.

Fossil-bearing ores have been tastefully placed about the room. Some are on crude stone pedestals, really just sandstones piled up in little heaps. Some are stuck directly into the ground. Many have a rainbow of different mosses growing on them, or pebbles arranged around them in Egyptian designs similar to Ratsy's. There's also an Odd Keystone in a place of honor, with a nascent swirl of a young Spiritomb in it. Tended paths lead from one attraction to another.

For some reason, there are also a couple Slowpoke around. The gardener has gardened right around them without disturbing them. Perhaps they water the slow-growing moss.

Really, it seems you've stepped into what appears to be a fossil garden.

There are two Pokemon that stand out.
1. The Geodude who has often followed you around since Ginger Town, sneaking up on one of the fossils in an attempt to excavate it.
2. A fabulously ornate Cofagrigus, using its four hands to rearrange fossils and stones. It's being very selective and careful. The thing exudes power, and is constantly looking around furtively before making a change. Cofagrigus orders the Yamask around and commands the respect of the other, smaller Ghosts. In its shadow are several 2D Gengar, jostling for position. An array of stone Clefable statues might be their homes or hosts or something.

Beyond the Fossil Garden is a downward path, leading to a door carved with hieroglyphics and made of an unknown metal - maybe orichalcum according to Nathan. You can't really see the door well from here.

There are great heaps of earth like compost all over.

[Iron]

The Great Ball and Ratsy disappear into the card. You can actually see Ratsy's shadow in the painting on the card now!

:O I'll edit things concerning the Fae Gems.

When Shiva spots the shadow of this Pokemon inside the card artwork, does think that this counts as 'having caught' this black artistic rodent? (I believe so, I guess?) She wouldn't want to leave without this creature, way too special to not take along. It's fine if the actual registering to a Ball or sharing of the Stats happens later, she simply doesn't want to miss the chance to call this Pokemon her own!
EDIT: Was this Encounter worth any XP?

The rat shadow stays in the card wherever you go. So far, at least. Beyond that, you can't possibly know.

You get 6 Shiva XP.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

The rat shadow stays in the card wherever you go. So far, at least. Beyond that, you can't possibly know.
You get 6 Shiva XP.

Awwww! \(^_^)/ Shiva has the feeling that this curious rat Pokemon enjoys being, eh.... 'inside the card artwork', as weird as that sounds even to her, her who's mind knows barely any borders when it's coming to what is possible and what is not possible. Every now and then when it's safe to do so, she'll draw the Sylveon Card to check whether the rodent's shadow is still there.

With that, it's about time that Shiva is granted another point in Survival Skill (-24 XP), being on par know with her general knowledge. Constant presence of Terra the natural survivalist, the hope-sparking fact of Nathan's dad not being dead, having matured and grown over time in quite a similar way like her dear Pokemon, all of that add to and reason this, and she likes it a lot. It's another experience she would have never had if she would have decided to not come to this region. Her Init Bonus is 8 from now on.


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The more Ghost Types and in particular the more Yamask they all spot as they progress, the more Shiva unknowingly seeks Spira's closeness (until she's walking right beside him) and the more hands twitch towards Yena's Pokeball; she can almost hear her butterwolfly growl protectively through it. She's very aware of the creepy and sad background of Yamask and almost EXPECTS the evolved form, the spectral coffin, to lurk nearby.

An icy-cold shiver runs down her spine as this ominous feeling became brutal reality, but she cannot deny that she is very FASCINATED by what's going on within this chamber before them. These Egyptian designs strike her eye and curiosity, she smiles a tiny tiny bit as she spots them - was this black rodent foreshadowing what's up next, was it once having its home here? How neat, yet how strange.

As he notices what appears to be an Odd Keystone, Shiva sharply gasps and clings to Spira's shoulder, she seems unable to take her eyes from THIS stone for several loooong moments. Another exemplar of THESE beings, here?

What highly intrigues her is that arrangement of moss covering many of these ores/fossils, she's certain that it's no coincidence that some of the stones lack it while others don't. It itches her to investigate, her hands start to shiver involuntarily.

First things Shiva does is turning to Cosh with a worried expression, while her feelings are telling her the answer already, she wishes to hear it from the Earth Mage himself. "Cosh, listen.... That door with the hieroglyphics down the path, can you see it? Does your map provide any hint or info what might be hidden behind the door? Me feels it could be, you know....."

A wave of sparkles and determination washes over her eyes as she finished her sentence: ".....the Artifact."

[Iron]

Cosh: "We were told the ghosts had hidden it. They could certainly have placed it behind that door! We need to find a way through. It should also lead downward into other layers of the Ruins."

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Shiva approvingly nods to these words from Cosh, her determination and desire to DO something flaring up even more. The first of the Artifacts - it's so close, yet so far away, aaarrrrgghhh!! "You're right, Cosh. But there are so many Yamask, these painted Gengar, that darkest of all Ghost Types within the stone, this Cofagrigus acting like their leader - not one of them noticing us if we try to sneak past sounds so utopistic it's almost foolish. Even if...we'd make it, they certainly wish to protect what's behind the door." An ominous realization crosses her mind: "We might have to - defeat them all to get our way. But, with you and your Scimitars, Marco's Pokemon, if we'd all work together, could we possibly - make it...?" Shiva lets her gaze wander to every member of the current group as if she's silently asking for their guess - she was mostly thinking aloud without being aware of it.

The Yamask holding small keys is also an oddity. Is there anything nearby these keys could be for/could fit in? Or is this, like, there's only one key that fits and the others are fake, Sorcerer's Stone-style?

[Iron]

You haven't seen any keyholes so far, but you're too far away to see if that door or that tunnel have any keyholes.

You think all the Yamask's keys are extremely similar in shape.