[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

"Then it shall be done. Peer into the clay, all who will..."

He smooshes the clay before him with apparent relish. It makes a rather pleasant sticky noise. Then he dribbles his lips for a bit, pppbbbbbbbt. The clay rises and forms the image of the central Great Divide. A pop, a cork sound, and a swishing of saliva form the image of Stair City, nestled in among it. He inhales his breath sharply through narrowed lips, and Mt Sentry rises in the clay before you. Lines, as if traced by a toothpick, spread out from the Skull Ruins as he whistles. In a sudden move, he smushes the Skull Ruins with his thumb while making the same panting noise which summoned the Ruins to his palette in the first place. The clay ruin survives, but there is an immediate tense feeling in the air as if something has snapped.

Those who gaze at the trestle feel the clay come to life within their sight. It's suddenly as if they are there.

"I cannot bear you to Stair City on the wings of the wind, like Altaria's Hidden Move can, but I do have a few tricks in my repertoire, eh, eh eh!"

You see northern Stair City overwhelmed with crawling vines. Tangrowth storm into skyscrapers and drag out a few screaming people, a few more angry Pokemon. Stable Z is there, triumphantly severing entangling vines. Shieldmaidens hustle the victims away. Dagny is nowhere in sight, until the image zooms up toward the ruins. There you see her personal Metagross at least, battling endless vines manually. Flashes of lightning from deeper inside the masonry hint that Dagny still lives, but she must be very deep within its labyrinthine layers.

Suddenly the vines stop crawling, as if a switch has been thrown. A slow smile creeps across the old man's orange face, which you can only half see. The defenders rally, many coming crawling up from under overwhelming piles of foliage where it seemed all hope was lost. Fire red finally overtakes viridian. Within an hour of viewing, the wall itself is regained, leaving only the northern Route to deal with.

"My link to my ally within the Ruins has been locked. The soil revitalizing these vines will no longer lend its power to them. The Disaster of Stone is now a mere mortal threat, for mortals to deal with. But my ally remains - he will probably retreat to the deepest part of the Ruins when his forces are overthrown. There may be other impacts to deal with, but again I leave those issues up to you humans. Remember: the mannikin kings are creatures of Sarimanok, and should be dealt with accordingly. They will be proud, mighty, and imperialistic."

"Are you satisfied? Will you keep your oaths in return for this aid I have given, at the ends of the earth and the beginning of the Land?"

"...is there any reason to doubt I won't?  I'm sure you know I always mean what I say."

...

"...even if the threat has been minimized...I still wish to help Mesprit...and we might need its aid to deal with the mannikin kings later...Sarimanok was a right crafty tactician and leader.  And if anyone might understand what he might have been thinking and how to deal with it, it would be one of the three Legendary pokemon that aided him in his planning..."

'...and it seems there's only one way to wake Mesprit and end this Disaster of Stone once and for all...the message seems so much clearer now that we've solved part of it...'

...

"...thank you for giving us some more time, sir."