[Game Thread] Pokerole: Mount Coronet Mystery

[Spiritmon]

Spoiler

Everyone reaches the stairs to Floor B3 without any further complications.

However, just like before, a door bars the way forward.  The braille writing on the door this time says:

⠞⠓⠑ ⠞⠓⠗⠑⠑ ⠅⠑⠽⠎ ⠎⠓⠁⠇⠇ ⠕⠏⠑⠝ ⠞⠓⠑ ⠺⠁⠽ ⠋⠕⠗⠺⠁⠗⠙

Set into the wall are three pedestals, each labeled with braille.  Karen notes that they're the same design as the ones that were set into the three pillars, though they lack the pictures engraved into the top.

First one: ⠞⠓⠑ ⠏⠕⠅⠑⠍⠕⠝ ⠞⠓⠁⠞ ⠓⠁⠎ ⠝⠕⠞ ⠉⠓⠁⠝⠛⠑⠙ ⠎⠊⠝⠉⠑ ⠁⠝⠉⠊⠑⠝⠞ ⠞⠊⠍⠑⠎

Second one: ⠞⠓⠑ ⠥⠝⠍⠑⠇⠞⠁⠃⠇⠑ ⠍⠁⠎⠞⠑⠗ ⠕⠋ ⠞⠓⠑ ⠉⠕⠇⠙

Third one: ⠞⠓⠑ ⠁⠗⠍⠕⠗⠑⠙ ⠎⠞⠕⠝⠑

Hooray for more puzzles in Braille, hooray for more decoding - actually though, Kee's starting to wonder WHO has placed them here and whether they've been here always or has only appeared recently. Eh... Just another mystery that adds to all the mysterious stuff happening at the moment.

He's up to take the task of decoding all the text once more, just because it's giving him something to do that needs concentration and focus, aka it'll put his mind off the cold for a while. If someone of the group chips in and wishes to claim a part to translate themselves, he'll let 'em.

Decoded part

He and Octavia stare at the paper with the freshly encrypted text, turning it around to look at the message from different angles. "'Kay then..... That door's requirering three keys to open, three 'things' that'll bring us to tha next floor. Given what the other messages spell out, theses keys appear to be answers to some sort of word puzzles."

He's passing around the paper with said messages around so that everyone can take a look at it and give their input: Required are 'a Pokemon still being in the state it was during ancient times', 'the master of the cold that does never melt regardless what happens' and 'a stone in an armor'. *cue for Karen to remember what the pillars depicted*

"I saw three pillars earlier, each with a picture of a Pokemon, I recognized two of them, Mamoswine and Glalie, and I think the third one was Regice." *shrug* "If I had to guess the first clue is referring to Mamoswine, the second to Regice and the third to Glalie." she twirls her bangs; "I found items on those pillars, maybe they're the keys?" She places the NMI at the third pedestal, the Everstone at the first one, and the Icy Rock at the second one. Provided she's able (i.e. without the door re-closing, or the items being 'stuck') she takes the items back.

When Karen puts the items on the pedestals in that order, the door remains firmly shut.

"Huh... Maybe I got the order wrong?" She'll try the Everstone at #1, the NMI at #2 and Icy Rock at #3. Item retrieval stays the same.

*click*

The door swings open of its own accord, opening the way to Floor B3.  The items may be retrieved, and the door stays open.

Again, I'll assume you guys proceed in the same marching order as before.

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Floor B3



The bottom third floor of the temple doesn't have a maze, unlike the prior two.  Instead, it's a large, open room.  The floor is completely covered in ice, and rocks that appear to be made of either some kind of metal or out of ice are scattered throughout it.  Some of the protruding obstacles even appear to be covered in pointy icicles.  Braille writing can be seen immediately on the wall to the group's right.

⠃⠑⠺⠁⠗⠑ ⠞⠓⠑ ⠞⠕⠥⠉⠓ ⠕⠋ ⠉⠕⠇⠙ ⠎⠞⠑⠑⠇

A wind is mysteriously blowing from the direction of Floor B4.  It's not a super powerful gale, but it's a very, very cold wind, and it's strong enough to make flying a difficult endeavor.  You can faintly hear the wind howling in the lower levels.

To reach Floor B4, you're going to have to somehow cross this huge patch of ice.

Spoiler

*click*

The door swings open of its own accord, opening the way to Floor B3.  The items may be retrieved, and the door stays open.

Again, I'll assume you guys proceed in the same marching order as before.

------------------------------------------------------

Floor B3



The bottom third floor of the temple doesn't have a maze, unlike the prior two.  Instead, it's a large, open room.  The floor is completely covered in ice, and rocks that appear to be made of either some kind of metal or out of ice are scattered throughout it.  Some of the protruding obstacles even appear to be covered in pointy icicles.  Braille writing can be seen immediately on the wall to the group's right.

⠃⠑⠺⠁⠗⠑ ⠞⠓⠑ ⠞⠕⠥⠉⠓ ⠕⠋ ⠉⠕⠇⠙ ⠎⠞⠑⠑⠇

A wind is mysteriously blowing from the direction of Floor B4.  It's not a super powerful gale, but it's a very, very cold wind, and it's strong enough to make flying a difficult endeavor.  You can faintly hear the wind howling in the lower levels.

To reach Floor B4, you're going to have to somehow cross this huge patch of ice.

*Minor Flashback!*

Few quick things to bring up about Ran's reactions to things, before I move one:

- When he reunites with the group, he'd first go over to Kee and introduce them to Catherine (and her to him), saying to him: "Kee, I'd like ya to meet Catherine. *Looks to ->* Catherine, this is Kee, my musician friend I was gabbing about earlier. *Looks back to Kee* Meet her after she snuck up on in me in a fuss while I was trying to navigate this blasted maze, and we'd managed to, but I managed to make things right between us and now we're tight and amicable together like a Magneton's Magnemite! *Chuckles* Which is nice, seeing as most of the Pokemon I've caught don't see eye to eye with me - usually they don't like me one bit, and the feeling is mutual in most cases too!"

"*Shakes head* Anyways, let me skip to the point and explain why I'm telling ya all this. You see, part of the deal I made with Catherine to become partners with her was  to put on a Performance for her later. I got Beethoven that can do that, and he can sing and play the old classics like no one's business, but I don't think he'd  be able to put on a good enough show alone with the Skill he has now. If you were working your magic on that instrument of yours with him, though......that's a whole other story. 

*Looks plaintively at Kee*

So.....can you help me out there, Kee?"

- Once that meeting is concluded, he'd take notice of the 'latest' batch of Braille and try to decypher it on his own first, but when Kee beats him to the punch he'd frown a little before shrugging it off. The little man didn't like getting beat to the punch like that, but he could deal with it. And hey, if the sour dandy wants to take over translation duties, then they can have at it!

- He'd figured out the puzzle pretty much instantly the moment he got all the clues and Karen showed everyone the stuff she found, and he would have told everyone the answer and solved it himself if he we not again got derailed when the young prodigy made her own attempts instead. This also annoys him (and to a greater extent when she goofed on her first try), and would have complained in an aggravated manner and shunted them aside to do the puzzle himself if they hadn't swiftly solved it on their second go. That takes the angry wind out of his sails, leaving him only with a faint sense of exasperation before he lets out a huff and grumbles to himself, concisely congratulates the odd eyed lass ("Good guess, lass.") and follow everyone down to the next floor, with Catherine and Stymph making the descent with him.

That should be it, so....

*Minor Flashback End!*

It only takes a brief glance around B4 to cause Randolph to let out a soft German swear and scowl, shaking his head at the veritable sliding hazard before him. The Braille message (Which he promptly translated and shared with everyone this time - "*Points to Braille* Says 'beware the touch of cold steel' . Probably means we'll have to find some way of avoiding the metallic rocks or something out there....") and the deep freezing cold that greet him served to further magnifies his agitation, until he took a deep breath and let out an explosive *KA-SIGH*.


"Well, isn't this a lovely circle of hell we've got to deal with. Had [u]plenty[/i] of sliding on ice already, and the Temple throws enough at us to outdo Candice's Gym handily. Now I know this place is screwed up, or just screwing with us. Bah!"

The bristly blacksmith grouchingly broods over in near silence as to how he and his partners were going to get past that slicked terrain. At first he'd thought of using Brigid to clear a way through, but he'd ruled it out quickly - would take far too long and far too much effort for her to sublimate a trail through it, and he didn't want to go piss off Catherine doing that again. His second idea, though....that[i] caused him to give a toothy grin.

It was simple: He'd simply fly himself over the ice on Stymph! Given how small he was and how big and tough the ironclad valkrye is (relative to Ran or not), such a thing should be easy peasy! He'd first get her to warm up to body temperature with the help of Brigid (He was not getting frostbite from her!) + get Puck to Baton Pass a Shell Smash from the coal muncher to make it so that it would be easier for her to carry him across, then he'd mount her and fly on over to the entrance to the next floor! He'd return all his Pokemon and temporarily switch out Catherine for Beethoven for the flight, whom will act as an escort for Stymph.

"Yes.....yes, that's [i]perfect. Why didn't I think of doing that sooner? Could have saved me a whole bunch of time in those mazes. *Shakes* Bah, no point in regretting that now. 'Sides, wouldn't have gotten what I did if I just skipped past it all, so it wasn't entirely a bad waste o' time...."

(Proceed with the plan, if able!)[/i][/i]

It should be noted that neither Beethoven nor Stymph think flying with this strange, freezing wind opposing them is going to be comfortable or easy (Beethoven in particular is shivering as soon as he's summoned).  They'll give it a go if Randolph thinks it'll be a good idea, though.

How's everyone else going to handle this problem?

Kogeki offer some help to everyone. "Before we proceed, I might have a suggestion. Izanami! Come out!" Then came Izanami, the magestic ghost bird Pokemon who wave her beautiful feather when summoned. "People, meet one of my fellow ghosts: Izanami-no-Okami. Or just Nami if you want. She know Telekinesis, so she might able to levitate some of us in this bridge enough to go though the other side. I can return her when we are safe in the other side. What you everyone think?"