[Game Thread] Pokerole: Mount Coronet Mystery

[Dragonstrike]

Everyone now finished with their preparations, Lucas meets everyone by the path to Acuity Lakefront.  Strangely, the wind that was picking up earlier has vanished entirely.  The hail is falling much more gently now.

"Alright, time to set out!  Due to the abundance of Snover that live in the area, those who travel down Routes 216 and 217 are always on the receiving end of a ton of Hail.  Hope you guys are prepared to deal with that.  I don't personally have any Ice types in my chosen team of six pokemon, but I'm reasonably confident I can end most battles before the Hail becomes a problem in the long term for obvious reasons.  It'll probably take us around two days to slog through the snow on both Routes, but there's a rest stop at the end...or I guess start in this case...of Route 216, so this shouldn't be too difficult to manage."

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The group passes through Acuity Lakefront with no issues at all.  No wild pokemon jump them.  The snow's falling quietly.  It's quiet.  Maybe a little too quiet.

No apparent reasons for why the wild pokemon aren't showing present themselves, however, and the group is able to reach the entrance of Route 217 in record time.

Route 217

Music: Route 216 (Day) Remix by Pokeli

The group is entering Route 217 from its northern side and will be making their way south.



The long, straight Route is simple.   A large snowfield is in the middle, the snow so deep that it's difficult to walk through.  Most trainers come prepared with snow shoes, winter clothing, skis, snowboards, and more if they intend to brave the harsh blizzards created by the local Snover and the winds that blow down from Mount Coronet's upper reaches.

Wild pokemon are most common at the end (read: start) of the Route, where the Tall Grass is.  The rest of the Route is usually filled with either trainers looking to train or items hidden in the snow, though the rare wild pokemon will sometimes stray into the deeper snow if they're prepared for the cold.

Octavia, being an eeveelution, is particularly attuned to sensing evolutionary energy.  She can't help but shiver, as there's a Frozen Rock nearby that some trainers will specifically adventure out here to find in order to evolve their Eevee into Glaceon.

Lucas recalls old experiences as the group starts traversing the Route.  "I'll never forget the first time I reached the end of this Route.  It was cold, my pokemon were exhausted...and I'd heard very little of the rumors about one of the houses that the locals like to spread about one of the houses here.  Apparently, they think it's haunted!  I was a little skeptical of that myself at first, having met a kind, elderly lady in it when I'd checked it out on the way to Snowpoint for the first time.  But the place was completely abandoned when I decided to pay the place another visit later, after hearing the rumors.  I could swear that someone was living there when I first checked it out, though, given that I still have the Spell Tag that the elderly lady gave me on my first visit.  Maybe the place is haunted after all..."

"Oh, and that other house you can barely see through the falling snow and hail, in the middle of the Route?  The guy who lives there once lost a TM for Hail in the snow.  I found it and tried to return it to him, but he insisted I keep it since I went to the effort of finding it.  I hear he loses things all the time, to be honest."

However, before any of the significant landmarks can be reached, the group must pass through the large patch of tall grass.

Amethyst's Pressure scares away most of the weaker wild pokemon, but extra tough ones are completely unaffected by it.  In fact, Amethyst perks up just moments before a loud CRRRRRAAAAASSSSSHHHHH!!! is heard, followed by the roar of a large bear pokemon!  A bunch of wild pokemon suddenly spill out of the trees as a gigantic Ursaring barrels out of the woods!

...and they're all headed towards the group!!  Looks like they've got a few fights on their hands!  Fortunately, the stampede has enough space to divide all the encounters into individual battles, and Amethyst doesn't run off towards any of them in particular.  Unfortunately, it's also splitting the group up!  Three of the non-unlimited encounters must be chosen at a minimum, with a maximum of 2 trainers per encounter, and Ursaring is mandatory.

1. Ursaring*
Difficulty: Hard
Cap: 2 (1)
Note: Mandatory.  This Ursaring is causing a large ruckus, knocking over trees, making loud noise, and generally being super belligerent.

2. Machoke
Difficulty: Moderate
Cap: 2 (1)

3. Medicham
Difficulty: Moderate (rerolled)
Cap: 2 (1)

4. Noctowl*
Difficulty: Hard
Cap: 2 (1)
Note: It was sleeping in a tree, but Ursaring's actions have caused it to wake up.  If this encounter isn't taken, it will join the Ursaring encounter.

5. Glalie
Difficulty: Hard (rerolled)
Cap: 2 (1)
Note: Also typically nocturnal, and woken up by the Ursaring.  Same as with Noctowl, it'll join the Ursaring encounter if this one isn't taken.

Unlimited: Snover, Sneasel, Swinub (even with Pressure in play, there's still some of these super common pokemon hanging around among all the stronger ones)

A note concerning Lucas: he won't typically join in on encounters unless asked to.  If he's asked to join an encounter (and he can only be in one encounter per set), it halves any exp you gain from it (as his pokemon gain exp as well), but you gain a powerful ally to help make it easier!  He'll typically only use one pokemon at a time if there isn't a large amount of opponents, and he also counts for the cap of the encounter.  If Lucas is not participating in any encounters, he can respond to someone calling for help and bail them out of a sticky situation (but again, it'll halve the exp earned from the encounter). Lucas can also deal with non-mandatory encounters all by himself if asked, but that takes up his encounter slot for the set, so he can't help out anyone else if he does that.