[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

Freddi: "Those bums put sacks on our heads and duct-taped us all up. Couldn't hear much. I know they talked about the Skull Ruins, unsurprisingly. Like I told Jenny, I thought I heard them mention a 'lake,' but Bobbi thinks they were talking about a 'big gory snake.' Like an Arbok I guess."

Bobbi: "I caught a glimpse of the scene as we were being bound. I saw them separating Thrawn from the camper dweebs. I bet they took him somewhere else from the Scouts."

Elminster: "There are back ways into the Skull Ruins. No one knows all the entrances. Most of them dead end into single chambers and don't connect to the main ruins. There are many many many places they could hide a prisoner there. As for their victim, I don't have much hope for him. Sounds like he was lost above the Kadabra Chambers. That's a series of rooms I've never dared to enter. They're covered by a crumbling ceiling, guarded by a very long drop, tons of dangerous Psychic Pokemon as well as the usual Ruin denizens. Oh, and sometimes Unown, which can be as dangerous as anything in large numbers. The Unown are said to spell out "KADABRA," hence the name, though no one has ever actually caught a Kadabra in there. It's a hard place to find on purpose, but an easy place to stumble into and break a leg...or spine...or neck. And there are weird rumors about it, where people are captured by roving bands of violent Pokemon and never released, no bodies ever found. It's said you can make a pact with the devil down there. Or fairies. Every culture has had a different myth about the Kadabra Chambers. Usually revolves around some arcane rules - you know, like if you eat the fairy food you owe them something. Bargains. They say time runs strangely in the Kadabra Chambers. They say you can still find fossils there from any era, and strange machines from the First Technical Society. But my question is, how would anyone know? No one's ever returned from the Kadabra Chambers."

"...time running strangely, huh...well, if anything, I think their victim can handle himself.  Just walking into the Ruins isn't for those without confidence in their ability to fend off the locals, after all.  I also briefly questioned one of the people who jumped us, and their target seemed to be equipped to handle Ghost and Psychic types from what I got out out of him.  Honestly, I'm more concerned for the baby pokemon that were with him..."  Hearing that time might run strangely in those chambers has ironically given Nathan just a liiitle more hope that everything will be okay.  He certainly knows first hand how long time can drag on in strange places...would it be all that surprising if time was running more slowly for Marco Warren after getting driven into those chambers?  It'd certainly explain why he supposedly hadn't gotten out of there by 2017...in any case, though, it's a clue, and a good one at that.  Nathan's going to have to try and get a permit to explore the lower levels of the Ruins in 2017, that's for certain...'

Big gory snake and a lake...hmmm..."What about Chicory Lake?  It's certainly far enough out of the way to hide out there.  None of the major routes even go near it.  And it might be easy to mistake the syllables for what Bobbi heard."  And Nathan knows something these guys don't: the guys who built the Water Scimitar base in Wineberry walked all the way to that town from the Chicory area.  He'd probably bet $1000 that either Thrawn or the Campers were taken there.  Seems like it might be the Water Scimitars main base of operations or something...