[Game Thread] Pokerole Mystery Dungeon: Primal Shadows

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

"Uh, thanks I guess, Kogeki?  I can hold onto it, sure, but doesn't an Escape Orb affect the entire party?  I think that's what the Kecleon brothers said at one point, anyways...never mind.  Let's just keep going."

I'll assume that Kogeki tries to be at least a little discreet with talking to Hoopa since the group seemed to agree that they should keep this to themselves for now.

*rolls*

There's no response from Hoopa when Kogeki walks over to Pyra to say something to Hoopa, but Marcus doesn't seem to pick up on what Kogeki said either, instead focusing on the task at hand.

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Kee leads everyone to the east, and the ravine continues in a winding fashion for some time until the party comes to a fork in the path.  Everyone except Marcus takes 1 damage from the Sandstorm, but also recovers 1 HP from moving to a new tile (healing between tiles is nullified while the Sandstorm is active).

Karen coughs as the sand is making it harder to breathe than normal, but she does feel a little hardier after all this adventuring.  Karen spends 10 exp to increase her Health from 1 to 2, and increase her level by 2.

On the left of the fork, there's a very tall cliff that doesn't seem to be easily climbable (effectively a dead end).

On the right, the ravine continues to twist and turn as it cuts a path deeper and deeper into the ground.



Suddenly, the ground begins to rumble underneath the party's feet!  "Uh...I have a bad feeling about this, everyone..."

1: Pyra
2: Kee
3: Kogeki
4: Karen
5: Daxter
6: Marcus

(1) Pyra

Stealth: (4)(3)(3)(3) 1 Success
Alert: (6)(2) 1 Success

As everyone tries to figure out where the rumbling is coming from, it's Pyra who determines the rumbling is coming from underneath her feet, and she Instinctively dives to the side as a large, male Hippowdon bursts out of the ground where she was standing, causing everyone to recoil backwards as sand, rock, and dirt are thrown everywhere!



"Pyra, are you okay?!  That was a nasty Dig attack!"

"Oh wow, that was fast...I thought we'd have to search for that hippo for a bit longer than that!  Let's take it down!"

"Careful!  These hippos are tough!  But if you're going to fight it, I've got your backs!"

Hippowdon Trap Initiatives
Hippowdon: (5) + 4 = 9
Kee: (5) + 3 = 8
Daxter: (4) + 4 = 8
Kogeki: (4) + 3 = 7
Pyra: (3) + 2 = 5
Marcus: (1) + 3 = 4
Karen: (2) + 2 = 4

Hippowdon's Sand Stream whips up a Sandstorm!
Kogeki shudders in Anticipation!
Pyra's Intimidate decreases Hippowdon's Strength by 1!

Pyra, with remarkable and rare restrain, was silent for the vast majority of the trip to the Silent Quarry. Partially because she didn't have much to be talkative about per say (that would warrant any meaningful answers, anyway), but because she had quite a bit on her fiendess brain taking up her attention. Her group dynamic and relationships with her cherished friends, their repeated and baffling attempts to try and convince her to be 'nicer' and 'more open' to outsiders/enemies outside of pragmatism or clear benefit to do so, Blitzles' own attempt to mend bridges with her/her team, Kogeki's plans to leave everyone behind to pursue his own visions of Adventuring and glory, Team Artificer's offer for her to join their ranks....all that and so many more issues danced in her head along with her regular thoughtfulness and near insatiable curiosity. If she had anymore to think about she'd hardly be able to focus on her friends and their Favor to Marcus at all, let alone what they were all discussing!

Hoopa's own 'inclusion' into the group also raised many questions and concerns with her (these ones being more excited than dour), but given their lack of talkativeness with her (or inability to do so) she put those aside for the time being. When they're released and can properly greet everyone in person, though.....

Still, for the most part, the fiery demoness was her cheerful, carefree self despite her case of severe mental congestion. Perhaps she was getting used to such a condition, perhaps she gotten better at hiding it, or perhaps being on a job kept her spirits up, but the fact of the matter remained was that she was outwardly happy as she could be. Karen could probably see through such a facade, but equally probably say nothing about it given her timidness and the recent tenseness between them and the brimstone imp.

All of that ended, however, the moment she felt that tremor beneath her in the next part of Secret Quarry. Before she knew it she was already throwing herself to the side without knowing exactly why, other than a sudden feeling of DANGER and ESCAPE, and as a result blessedly missed a nasty wake up call in the form of an angry sand hippo goring her from below just barely. Letting out an 'Omph!' upon her tumble, she pulled herself off the ground in time to catch sight her would be Ambusher's failed Attack on her, and her confused expression instantly deaded into a chilling blank stare at it as she connected the dots of her feelings and what nearly happened to her.

"......Rude, oh how so very imprudent of you, to interrupt me like so."

Marcus' outcry of concern for her went ignored as her undivided attention was now squarely on the Hippowdon, her tone turning gruesome as she oh so carefully prepared her reprisal to it, her pupils now shrunken to tiny sharp pinpricks ready to stab right into her foe.

"A lesson for you, then, a old adage we shall teach thee in turn: The bigger they are, the harder they fall."

At this point Intimidate would've triggered in full force, and from there....things get dicey.

Orders: Depending on how things go, this is Pyra's plan of action for Hippowdon:

- If Kogeki uses Bite on it as his first Action and it succeeds in Flinching it, use a Will Powered Bulk Up and then follow up with a Bite for her second Action.
- If Kogeki uses Bite but it fails to hit/Flinch Hippowdon, or if he chooses not to try and Flinch it for reasons, Pyra will use Bite to attempt to Flinch it out of its next Action, then either use Ember or Bulk Up as her second Action (the former if it doesn't Dig, and the later if it does)
- If Hippowdon elects to use Dig as its first Action, or otherwise uses a Move that would render it unhittable or make Flinching non-viable, Pyra will instead use that time to Bulk Up, then devote her second Action to Biting it the moment it resurfaces to attack/does something meaningful (Not in a Clash, just to be clear, unless you decide it has to be that way for reasons)
- If Hippowdon uses Dig as its Second Action, then Pyra will use hers to position herself in such a way to quickly and readily throw someone out of the way of the Dig attack (and probably taking it in the process) for its third Action/first action next Round if she has not used Bulk Up yet; otherwise use Bulk Up as her second action

That should cover it until I recieve further info from everyone, so until then it'll do!

Moves:

Bite/Ember
Accuracy: DEX (2) + Fight (3) + Brawl/Channel (1) - 2/4 Actions = 4/2D6 Base Dice
Damage: STR/SPE (2) + 2 + STAB = 5D6 Base Damage
Effect(s): *Flinch 3* (Bite), *Burn 1 [1]* (Ember)
Note: + 1 Accuracy Dice to Ember due to Fire Proof Glove Apparel

Bulk Up
Accuracy: Tough (2) + Contest (1) + Intimidate (1) - 2/4 Actions = 2D6 or 1 Luck Dice
Effect: + 1 STR and DEF
Note: Willpoint spend on Bulk Up; not to sure of how it'll interact with Luck Dice, but a Willful Failure on it would be interesting to see, to say the least.