[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

Spurred on by the competitive power of the Eye, you sprint for the fortress. Nathan recognizes this from some subtle clues of architecture. This is the place where Sarimanok was holed up right before he faced the new League.


It's made of the same indestructible material as the minarets, and covered with spikes and barred windows. If he'd stayed here, he could have held out for weeks.

Cosh strides confidently through the wyrms coiled around the ancient fortress and with a severe popping noise from his gauntlet, Strengths the door open.


With the power of his Legendaries, Sarimanok was able to make this place "bigger on the inside." It's the size of a big house, but the central part is filled with a huge glowing orb marked with sigils.

Looks a little something like this.


It's about ten feet in diameter and gives you a weird feeling whenever you look at it. Spira and Heart are both drawn toward it.

There's another trapdoor in here, with the same symbols on it as the one Spira found. The room is decorated like a taste of the Throne Room, appointed with every luxury and probably a ton of gold worked into the decorations. It's entirely undisturbed by any humans or bigger Pokemon, and none of the fine furnishings have decayed. The stone floor is soft to walk on, somehow. The room stays well-lit despite the lack of proper windows or indeed a sun. Every chair is soft, supportive, and beautifully upholstered. There are even casks of wine and golden goblets.

The rest of the space is packed with items, but also a lot of Pokemon bones. Actually, looking at that... Terra sees the partial exoskeleton of a Genesect, including a purple orb behind its eye sockets, and two strong limbs connected to a rigid steel backbone.

Heart spots a strange cone at the base of the orb. It looks partially ethereal, bits and pieces of it shifting in and out of existence. By contrast, it seems to be made of a metal, which you might ID as mithril.

There are twenty fitted colorless Apricorns (akin to red Pokeballs) scattered around the room. Some look used, but all are empty now.
There's a robe made of articulated steel, looks like it could function as a Metal Coat.

There's a bookshelf of mahogany and gold, filled with old school TMs. And a chest, filled to the brim with smooth Mega Stones (but no keystones sadly). Two each of Delta Steelixite, Alakazamite, Aggronite, Metagrossite, Lucarionite, Mawilite, and many more for experimental Sarimanok Pokemon that don't exist any more.

Cosh runs forward and pries up a loose floor tile, his back to you. Kelda follows and bends down beside him. When she straightens up, she's wearing the Helm and her form is wreathed in two colors of fire. Every time she swivels her head, she seems to be moving almost faster than the eye can see, like Sid.

"We're done here," say the two armed Scimitars in unison, made cohesive by the bond of the Hauberk. "Finish up and let's go. We have a world to save."

".....Ominous. Impressive."

That's what Terra has to say as he takes in the old fortress, looking at it with stoic fascination and clear interest as he rapidly encroached upon it. While he was hardly the historical ethusiast that his friend Nathan was, even he knew and recognized the significance of this long lost place to some extent. It was Sarimanok's his final santacuary against the rebelous League that sought to bring him to task for his dark deeds and amoral acts, his last refuge in the face of overwhelming opposition that was bore against him, and his last staging point for the defense of his kindgom, and the location of The Helm, the very last Artifact he and the Scmitars needed to obtain. Simply put, this fortress was Important in the grand scheme of history, and you'd have to be a greater fool than Terra to be oblivious to that.

At that moment, the sagely monk couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for the old king as he stared at the building, and all that was lost from the rebellion against. Thought the man almost undoubtably deserved his final fate, as a son from a long line of merchants it was not hard for him to understand why Sarimanok so doggedly defended what was his, as that was his wealth, advances, and legacy he and his family worked so hard and tirelessly to build, grow, and sustain over their lifetimes. Almost all of it was lost pratically forever in the wake of his defeat, so much of it buried deep beneath the earth of a place that would one day become The Skull Ruins, the rest scattered or destroyed in the chaos and recontruction afterwards, and ever since the League(s) have worked tirelessly to regain or recreate the glorious wonders of his time.

It was a necessary cost, ultimately, for the good of everyone then and in the present future. But that didn't mean he couldn't find it all deeply regretable too. If the war between Sarimanok and the League never progress to that point, and the two sides could have found a peaceful compromise, how much more would have been preserved from that age? How changed would the Modern Era, all eras following the end of that great war, be now? Would it be better, worse, or just different? Who know, who knows...

(...)

Cosh gets a smile and nod of thanks for opening the way into the ancient fortification, and upon stepping in his calm unflinching demeanor was shattered as he gazed upon the opulance of the pseudo Throne Room, awestruck as he took in all the riches as the Business/Merchant part of his brain starting taking inventory and pricing said luxuries.

".....Wow. This.....inside is.....so much weatlh and.....wow. *Beat* ....Want it. Want all I can get. Treasure here can benefit everyone, so must take much as possible. I Must."

Yeap, Terra's suitably impressed and left avaricious by all the riches/Items/relics he sees! Not so much that he had forgotten the main purpose of coming here, but enough that he couldn't resist taking the opportunity to make a profit in the meantime/while the search for the Helm was happening!

Once he snaps out of it/finishes processing everything, the mountain of a man would have hardly wasted any time in pilaging/looting this place all he could, but he was stopped in his  when he caught sight of the Partial Genesect Exoskeleton + Purple Orb. That arrests his attention like dancing Clefairy using Follow Me, and he'd quickly rushed over to investigate it more closely, taking care to make sure it was not trapped or had a nasty surprise for him/the others, and releasing Solomon to help him in that task (if they may). (Roll necessary for this, Iron?) . After all the tricks and trouble the Ruins unloaded onto to him and the group, he was not about to go messing with the remains of a Legendary willy nilly until he had taken proper due diligance/care first. 

Fastforwarding a bit, and Terra would have done the following:
- Obtain 4 of the Colorless Apricorns after they have been all gathered up (Presumably this amount, since it's 1/5 of the Total).
- Take a Lucarionite, Mawilite, and (if no one objects) all the other useless/unusable Mega Stone as his own. The former because of obvious reason, and the later because even though they're functionally worthless as Held Items, they could still hold great research and/or monetary value to the right person.
- The 2 TMs he'd take from the bookcase would be a copy of Hidden Power and Iron Tail, the former to be used on Arete and the later on Angie ASAP. I.T. would be a fantastic coverage Move for his divine drake, as she has all the tools to exploit it to the fullest and gets pseudo STAB on it (Due to Terra's Steel Blessing). Plus, after all the she's been through in the Skull Ruins and the sacrifices she made on his behalf (Mainly with Mega Syrentide), she deserves something special like that! HP, meanwhile, is mainly obtained for his aquatic terror out of curiosity, as how would it be manifested by a Legendary Pokemon such as they? 
-He'd have them (Arete) test/use their HP just outside the entrance to the fortress to learn just that, taking percaution in case its effect would be problematic or interesting in closed confines and to keep his friends/allies safe in the even something went wrong. If they would notice/detect the reamins of The Genesect (If it would be left undisturbed), he'd order them to leave it alone for now.
- Finally, he'd loot loot loot the pseudo Throne Room for all he could! Let him leave no Poke on the table, if at all possible! He'd want to keep a cask/few bottles of wine himself too along with a Gold Goblet, as the former could be used for some Cooking recipie or another, and the former because he saw Shiva grab one for herself and decided to keep one for personal use too. Nothing says power and status like drinking from a solid gold cup of Sarimanok's, after all!

With all that is said and done (And his investigations/interactions with the Genesect remains concluded), he'd be ready to depart back to the surface, giving both Artifacted Scimitars a gravely serious nod.

"I am ready. Let us go, and defeat it. DEOXYS. Save the world, and make happy future. Together."

He glances over to Nathan as he says the last part, partially to remind him of their alliance with the Scimitars (And not to jeopardize it a this point), and partially anxiously (internally) waiting for him to bring out The Cress City Card to transport everyone back to the surface (I presume he'd have found out about it at some point, either via Ven warning about him, or learning about it on his own by some means). 

This was it. It was time for them to return to the surface, and prepare to face DEOXYS, Cheshire's old nemesis from beyond. 

If they can, that is. Should it had arrived and was causing intersteller hell on earth while the group + Scimitars were deep within the Skull Ruins.....well, he and everyone would have to be a lot more prompt in taking care of it.

Whatever the case, they would be ready. The fate of the world was in his friends and allies hands, and he'd make sure they'd succeed with their lives intact at all costs. Even at his own....