[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

Lurantis accepts the fruit, which is given to her offspring. "Thank you for your Pledges and the work you will perform, and for the gifts. My orchids will bestow their essence upon you if you merely twist the stem and inhale the scent." A trainer needs to help a Pokemon with this, just like a manmade healing item.

Lurantis is also interested in Sentry. "This creature you have is from a time long gone, when the world was more Primal, and the power of Pokemon was undiminished. A time of my youth, when I was not considered so unusual. Many things were different then. Before the worship of Venusaur, before the taming of Mamoswine, creatures like Tropius ruled Creshire, shaking the very earth and altering the landscape."

Sentry sees Tropius as a child, since she is much larger and he is more spritely. She curls her tail protectively around him, and will do so whenever they meet. In the filtered sunshine of the sacred grove, an ancient fruit grows on her underside, and she allows Tropius to eat from it.


"I have words you must hear for your quest. Listen well. Do you already know of the Four, the weapons crafted by Man from the deaths of two Dark Pokemon? A Keenglaive White and a Keenglaive Black, becoming arms and armor against a psychic threat. Yes? Then you may know they are now hidden within the Skull Ruins since the time of Sarimanok."

"The ghosts stole one, and hid it within the foundations of the new League palace, now crumbled. This layer is home to many Psychic Pokemon and devious traps. It is directly below the Barrow-Downs."

"From then on, you will be in the domain of the King, and it is said you will need the help of kingly Pokemon to advance, for there are many guardians and wards. Another item is hidden 'in watery depths where sun shines not.'"

"Next, you shall come to a cavernous layer teeming with strong Pokemon, Primals and the mighty gathered by Sarimanok from a time when even his great power would look childish. Here his Sword was entombed in stone by Dragons. The dragon-prophecy says only a mighty King can pull the sword loose."

"The indestructible splinters of Sarimanok's minarets pierce the caverns from below. Some incredible power shattered them into rubble - hidden among that rubble is the palace, but you need not go there. Instead, sheltered in the minarets, a society of scavengers hid another of the artifacts."

"The old Throne Room is below that, and in the palace's dungeons hides another layer of secrets. These two layers will not assist you in your quest to re-unite the Four, but they do contain a lot of the most amazing things humanity has ever built. I do not know if it is still possible to enter these final layers."

Nathan's taking a LOT of notes now.

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"...so what you're saying is my original hypothesis that Sentry is a Primal Tropius was right, correct?  Her species may no longer roam the land in large numbers like it used to, but we still have ways to learn of them.  Some dedicate their entire lives to that kind of research.  Though...are you also saying that Sentry's species is even older than that of Primal Bulbasaur's?"

Nathan would also like to get a closer look at that ancient fruit if Sentry will allow him to.

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"...so the Ruins definitely have 5 or 6 layers, each with their own unique dangers...hmmm...the final layers might not be helpful in reuniting the Four, but that doesn't mean there won't be anything helpful down there if we do manage to reach them...and the weapons were crafted from the remains of Keenglaive...if we go to deep, though, we might be in over our heads...hmmm..."

"...I'm not sure what to make of the dragon-prophecy, to be honest...when we visited Atheneum, there were busts of all of the old kings.  Sarimanok should have been the last one.  But...he wasn't.  Another bust was being made and placed in a spot after his.  I saw it, and it felt...strange to look at.  I don't know what to really make of that feeling...all I can really say is...I think that sword in the stone is going to be pulled soon.  I don't know by who or why...but if we're going to oppose Deoxys...we need that sword, along with the rest of the Four.  If we can't harm Deoxys, we can't beat it, no matter what else we might bring to that fight."