[Game Thread] Pokerole: Mount Coronet Mystery

[Dragonstrike]

*whoosh!*

Finally, the Toxic Plate.  The four Plates, now all six sided instead of four, sparkling like gemstones, orbit Arceus in a symmetrical pattern, one at each point of the primary compass directions.

Arceus changes color again.




The Toxic Plate, representative of those desires that slowly eat away at living things, devouring them from the inside out.  There is nothing more horrible than a slow death, and suffering emotionally is but one way for it to happen.  Without the bad things in life, however, there can be no good.  Happy times will be followed by sad ones, and sad ones by even more joyous ones.  Poison, much like Dark and Ghost, has a questionable place in the Creation of Life, but it serves its purpose nonetheless.

Torn apart by feral pokemon, you say?  Curious...perhaps there's a chance they yet live after all, if the remains were impossible to identify.  I cannot claim to know for certain that is the case, of course, but maybe it will help you come to a decision.  I have my suspicions that not all is as it seems in your case...

Karen gives Kee a sad, empathetic look.  She still looks like she's on the verge of tears, but for entirely different reasons now.

With all four plates returned to the Creator, its form is now completely solid, completely real.

At last.  My power is returning to me.  Not much, but enough.  With the power of the Syrentide's chant aiding me, I can perform the impossible for brief moments.

Now then, I have a little explaining to do.  About why you've been drawn here, and about what comes next.  A grim tale is what I have to tell.

Arceus's form shifts back to the dull, discolored form it started in as it begins its story.

A Grim Tale: The Other Side - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX

As the sacred mountain began to turn dark with Shadow, something stole into the Hall of Origin and managed to ambush me.  It stole my gathered Plates, scattering them across the Sinnoh Region.  I can feel them calling to me from every corner...it is only by a sheer miracle that four of them found their way back to me almost of their own accord.

That thing that stole my powers from me then found the Azure Flute's hidden location, sealing it away on the Mystri Stage in the Sinjoh Ruins, where no Pokemon would be able to touch it.  It attacked and entrapped Legendaries across the land, placing them where no human would dare tread, or making them disappear altogether.  It darkened the sacred mountain with its Shadows, darkened the hearts of the pokemon living inside it, all to further its plans.  Its dark designs for Sinnoh completed, it then lured the Time Keeper, Dialga, to the Dark Spear Pillar, where it darkened the dragon's heart.  Time had fallen under its control, and combined with its powers over Space, the universe would soon be its toy.

It is a dark being that my powers sealed away long, long, long ago, and I dare not speak its name, lest it return to these halls and undo all our hard work to remove its influence from these lands.  It traveled through both time and space, seeking those that would eventually oppose it, and did everything it could to interfere with their lives without leaving a trace of its presence, save for one thing: a mark depicting a pokemon with the traits of all other Legendaries, and none of itself.  The chaos such actions left in their wake have dragged people and pokemon from across all realities into ones that were not their own, and it's all because of the one thing this being desires more than anything.

This being intends to become a god.

But it has made a mistake.  It has lead you all here, and you have freed Dialga from its control.  Time is no longer forced to do its bidding.  Giratina has fled this dimension with the dark power that enabled as such.  I do not know what the future will hold for the Renegade, but I do not expect they will be able to fight that power forever.

It is with a burdened heart that I offer you choices in response to the recent events brought about by this multidimensional disaster.  Let it be known that I mean as well as I can manage when I offer them, though.

Arceus shifts colors again as music notes begin to circle it, Paula's Lucky Chant suddenly starting up again from out of nowhere.

To Choose Your Fate: Benevolent Spirit - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX

With the power temporarily granted to me by this heartfelt song, I can offer you three choices concerning what you do next.

Death

1) You may choose to not alter the course of your fates, and simply accept the death that was given to you.  You will move on to the next life, and your life story will come to an end.  I cannot say who or what you'll meet on the other side, but it will be an existence free of strife so long as you regret nothing and the Dark One does not meddle in the affairs of the dead.

Should you choose this route, know that it is a permanent choice.  There is no turning back once you have crossed the veil and gone to the afterlife.

(GM's Note: In short, your character's story ends here.  If there's anything in their lives that's left unresolved, I do not personally recommend this choice, but it's up to you in the end.)

Leaving

2) I can return you to your original realities, and you will be able to put all of this behind you.  If need be, I can erase your memories of key events entirely so that you may live out the rest of your lives in peace.  Should you want to have nothing more to do with this multidimensional catastrophe, I cannot fault you.  It has been all but forced upon you, and you have endured many stresses that few humans have, all in the span of little more than a week.

You need not worry about the disaster affecting you again should you choose this option.  In your home realities, the Dark One's presence is limited.  It is focusing the majority of its power on its plans in the World of Pokemon.  You will be safe from it for however long you live.

(GM's Note: While your character will not be participating in my Main Game, there's the potential to revisit their story at a later point to resolve unresolved conflicts if there's enough interest to do so.  I like the characters you've all created, and I would definitely enjoy exploring their stories more!  Which leads us to option number three...)

Pressing On

3) You can continue to aid us Legendaries in this task of fighting this darkness, this evil being that must be resealed in their prison at all costs.  Gather the Plates, wherever they may hide, and bring them to me.

However, your home worlds are not the only ones hurting from this being's dark designs.  To truly solve this problem, you will have to uproot it at its source, in the reality it has decided to call its home while its power slowly grows.

The world you will have to travel to will be strange.  It will be alien.  And most of all, it will feel like you are not yourself upon entering it.  For it is a world where humans are few in number, and pokemon have claimed the land for themselves and formed their own civilizations.  It will be a world of pokemon, but not as you know it.

The rainbow colored landscape begins to shift and change as the floor everyone is standing on becomes visible.  Clear as glass, the Hall of Origin's flat surfaces expand into infinity.  Below the floor, everyone can see a strange land that is clearly not their own stretched out below them.  Scizor stands up straight from the kneeling position he'd taken in the background once Arceus showed up.  The bug clearly recognizes the terrain spread out below everyone.

The World of Pokemon

In order to conduct a proper search, you will have to become pokemon yourselves.  Your pasts may not be entirely known to yourselves at the start of your journey, and there is always the risk of losing yourself to the feral pokemon within, but you will not be traveling alone.  You will meet many pokemon along the way, both friend and foe, and together, you will be able to save both this world and all others.  Scizor hails from this world, and I am sure he will gladly join you in your endeavor should the chance ever arise.  Friends, family, and allies from your human lives may also appear along the way, for this darkness's chaos cares not what and who it drags to other realities, and I can now subtly influence it slightly to redirect everyone and everything it snatches to this world I am now showing you.  Others have already been dragged to this reality as well.  I know for a fact that Shimo has been, and there is a possibility, however small, that Kee's parents were too.

Sea, Water, Sand, Air, Mist, Grass, Wonder, and Mystery...you will have to search the whole world for all 17 of my Plates, for I have only regained a fraction of my power in this reality we are currently in.  Once I regain all of my power in that reality, however, I shall be complete, and able to summon the shards of my strength from across all of time and space regardless of how far they will need to travel and how long it will take them to reach me.

This is a land where Mystery Dungeons are commonplace, and the civilized pokemon have learned how to explore them safely, teaming up in groups of three to five to tackle them as a team and uncover the secrets and treasures hidden within them.

It will be a long, perilous journey.  But should you undertake it, we Legendaries would all be in your debt.  As would all planes of existence, even if they do not know it.

Fear not, though.  Should you feel you are not ready for such a task, I can use my power to search for other suitable individuals, others that have been affected by the Dark One's power and lured onto the path of false destiny.  One does not have to have defeated a Legend to be qualified for this monumental task.  Indeed, it is likely that none of you will be particularly strong when you wake up in this strange, alien world.  You will have to gather both strength and allies if you are to succeed in this endeavor.

Should you succeed in your task, I will offer you another choice atop Destiny Tower, where I will await the return of the 17 Plates.

(GM's Note: Your character will be carried over to my Main Campaign, but they'll be a pokemon instead of a human!  We'll be starting from ground zero, so that'll mean fresh character sheets!  Some characters from your Player Character's backstory and this Test Game may also appear during the course of my Main Game, and a few of your earned items may carry over as well, as I don't want everything you've earned here to go to waste.  And this is all because my main campaign is based in the world of...)

 

So...

...what will you all choose?

Look to your companions if it will help you come to a decision.  Look to your pasts, your futures.  The choice is entirely yours.