[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Iron]

Creshire Museum Part 1


Solomon gains 1 Loyalty! He's very thankful about being taken to this great place.

Almanac Research Institute

This visit is indeed brief, as it's just a small booth where you can pull up various examples of Almanac's experiments. These high-profile videos have all been carefully curated, it seems. They all show Pokemon being used in ways that run pretty much with how they are meant to be used: a Klink operating a big drilling machine, a Nosepass spinning around in a magnetic tunnel of some kind, a calculating Metagross, and a Ditto Transforming into equipment.

An introductory video said that Almanac has made its home here since 2014, and singlehandedly represents 3% of Creshire's jobs and economy.

Solomon and Furret aren't at all interested in these rather dry videos.

Mt. Sentry
This exhibit involves a big cardboard cutout of Tanuki with a Zigzagoon on each shoulder, holding up another map of Mt. Sentry. When you tap a button, a short audio plays. Furret listens to every one with awe.

"Captain Bridge's Gem Mine: Long abandoned for production, this mine nevertheless yields occasional small shards of gemstone. An underground river performs both the mining and the transportation, as sifting sand is the best way to find a little treasure here. Armed guards assist tourists for a fee. Ever since Bridge's small squad was driven from their wartime encampment by a fleet of Sableye, that Pokemon has been a constant pest in the mountain. This creates quite a challenge for the Cress City Gym Leader, who traditionally trains the Normal type in the mountain. The assistance of Mediums has helped, but the clever Sableye are still a problem."

"Fallen Arches: Built by indentures during King Sarimanok's excavation of the underground reaches of the Palace. Many lives were lost during this excavation due to the unstable medium of Mt. Sentry and Pokemon tunneling within it. The only other significance they bear is a short legend in Creshire's annuls: It is said that a witch collected the keystones of each arch for nefarious purposes."

This actually makes Solomon look a little nervous, though at first he was interested in that history.

"The Candelabra: The Candelabra was built in Creshire's earliest recorded history, when the First Technical Society was expanding to fill the continent. Its lengthy stem delves into the earth deeper than any explored layer of the Palace, where it is fed by a reservoir of natural gases. Early modern explorers found the gas could cause paranoia, strange behavior, and eventually death by asphyxiation if the flares did not come frequently enough. FTS homes had a mini Candelabra in every room; presumably, they had some form of safeguard against gas leaks."

Solomon presses the button to play that one again. He nods.

"Clay Pits: Another feature of Mt. Sentry exploited by the Bridgemen. The clay here is superior for pottery, and is a pleasant white color which takes dyes, paints, and glazes nicely. The Bridgemen used it to create primitive grenados filled with an explosive mixture of gases. The very next spring, a three-thousand year old cache of Voltorb was discovered, making these grenados obsolete. See the Meteor exhibit for more details."

Furret rolls around in excitement and makes digging motions on the floor. For a moment, she forgot she wasn't really in the Clay Pits.

There are also buttons for the Sentry Shrine, but you already know all of it. The only thing new is a date concurrent with early Mamo exploration of Creshire. So it was probably drawn by the Mamo or their predecessors.

Cress City
The Cress City exhibit has a list of famous people born in Cress City.
-Red, currently serving in the Elite 4
-Tanuki, currently Cress City Gym Leader
-Keni Morgusi, artist
-Felicia, fashion model
-Mayor Raist, currently serving as Cress City Mayor and Creshire League Liaison
-Armbrandt, Pokelympics athlete
-Wemochte, Tumbleweed Town sheriff
And so on.

Skull Ruins
The Skull Ruins exhibit has a map of the explored portions of the Ruins, which is not much: just row upon row of Barrow Downs on the surface, and some of the palace foundations below that. The Barrow Downs are not recommended to the public, but are not off-limits to strong trainers. The second layer requires a permit.

There's also an exhibit on a new sonar project to map the Ruins remotely. These scientists believe the Skull Ruins has at least five distinct layers from different times in history. In fact, the newest research (new even to Nathan) suggests the King's Palace may have been built on an even older ruins. There's a cutaway map of the layers: Barrow Downs, Palace Foundations, King's Well, Underground Caverns, Ancient Palace.

There are fabled portions of the Skull Ruins: the King's early TM library, his Bullion Armory where he stored his gold, and an artist's rendition of the Skull Throne, comprised of several dead Charizard. In this picture the throne looks vast and intimidating.

"Somewhere deep within what's left of the Palace, may be the Hold of the Secret Throne, where Sarimanok kept a second throne room filled with the greatest of his treasures. Including unique Pokemon, secret technology, and vast wealth."

There's a newly discovered chunk of palace with Sarimanok's crest on it: a bulky winged Pokemon within a triangle, and a motto.
Medicas adhibere manus, manus mortiferum
"Healing hands, deadly hands."

"Sarimanok was one of the first men in the entire world who you would have recognized as a modern trainer: Apricorns and primitive Pokeballs at his belt, a system of battle rules, and a tradition of challenging nearly everyone he met to battle, if he judged them worthy."

"The King's Trio of legendary Pokemon, possibly ruled by Landorus, consisted of three Pokemon representing Royalty, Kingdom, and Knighthood. Landorus rebelled against Sarimanok and left to create a new team of legendary Pokemon."

Now, Solomon's crown is glowing brightly, and he is drinking it all in. He puts his face up right up against the glass to see the Crest. He's nodding at everything. Until he gets to the bit about the Trio; then he starts shaking his head violently and lightly headbutting the wall in frustration. Not enough to damage it, fortunately. Clearly, something is wrong with their description.