[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Iron]

Nathan falls asleep. His last memory is Kirlia clutching the Clamperl pearl and humming in a soft, sleepy voice.

When he wakes up, he is in an obsidian cage, Kirlia beside him, sound asleep. As previously described, this cage can be latched from the inside or outside, and has a glowing red crystal on the roof. The blankets are gone.

There's no sign of Shiva, but there are some other cages nearby, including one full of broken glass with a blue crystal on it.

Looking out by the light of the crystal, a jolt of familiarity runs through Nathan. He recognizes this landscape from the one Kirlia showed him at Murkrow Cove! Then he is startled again as he hears human shouting, growling, and the sounds of combat, some ways away (Nathan is a significant run distance from Ventus still, not far behind him in time).

[Dragonstrike]

Nathan's quick to jostle Kirlia 'awake.' It's pretty obvious this is some sort of dreamscape based on how they got there. That shouting and the sounds of battle are worrying him, though...

He checks if he has any of his other pokemon available. They were in their pokeballs for the night, so if they're also asleep...

Nathan's going to bring out Starmie if the Starfish is available, and then he and his pokemon are going to head towards the sounds of battle. And based on how dark the surroundings were when described originally, he'll also have Starmie use its Illuminate ability to light the way.

[Lord Windos]

Raphael, evened in their pained state, noticed his master was struggling to command and react to the frantic chaos that engulfed nightmarish landscape, flew over to him and attempted to channel their blessed power in aiding them. Apsis needed no further prompting as she doubled down on the vile mutt she sank her fangs into, intent on ending it miserable life! When Raphael came over to assist them, Ventus hand quickly darted into his satchel and spray them with his last Potion, before his thunderous, wrath filled gaze fell upon the sole unharmed beast. "You could have run, and saved your wretched self from what I have wrought upon you. Instead, you choose to stay and die by my hand. For this, I will personally break your legs, rip out you genitals, AND MAKE YOU CHOCKE TO DEATH ON THEM!" He screamed at them, before lashing out at the abominable Houndour!

Order: Apsis will attack the same Houndour as last time and finish it off, before cawing it down in front of the remaking dog. Raphael will fly over to Ventus to use After You on them, preferably after its healed by the potion. Ventus will just keep Striking at the Houndour that caught his attention until its knocked out, and do what he promised. Yikes.

[Iron]

Delta Houndour Round 5

Bite on Houndour C
(5)(5)(2)(1)
(6)(2)(1) Houndour C faints. Apsis begins eating it, but leaves all the purple bits as they appear to burn her just as much as fire does. That won't complete until next round.

When the trainer is acting in combat he will have to obey the normal initiative rules, since it becomes an action and not really a "trainer action" of the free variety.

Ventus also realizes he might have difficulty giving complex orders while fighting. But these are simple enough and he is a good communicator. Plus it's what Apsis wants to do anyway.

Extrasensory by Houndour A
(6)(2)(4)(2)(6)
2 Str + 3 power +1 STAB -2 vit = 4d6+1
(6)(5)(1)(1) Apsis takes 2 damage. 9/13.
Flinch: (5)

Potion
Raphael 6/7hp.

After You
(6)(6)(1) Ventus is now ahead of Apsis in init order.

Strike
6 dice, -3 actions = 3 dice
(3)(4)(3) Hit
(5)(3) Houndour A takes 1 damage.

Raphael takes 1 damage from burn.

Delta Houndour Round 6

Only Houndour A is left, with 3/4hp.
Raphael 5/7
Apsis 9/13.

[Iron]

Nathan gets a slightly different perspective on the Houndour.

Nathan begins working his way toward the foot of the ridge. Seeing Starmie's attractive light, Houndour approach to cut Nathan off. Their strange brainlike forehead membranes pulse at him, and he can hear them howling. It is his first encounter with this mysterious species of Pokemon, and it does not exactly imbue him with courage. The Pokemon are clearly brimming with dark confidence, surefooted and crafty.

Nathan turns to look behind him: this path is being left open. But on three sides, he can sense the Houndour. As he turns, the Houndour yip and make motions as if snapping at his heels. They want him to run. They want a chase!

And Nathan would be the prey.

[Dragonstrike]

"Want me to run, eh? Hmmm..."

It's off putting. These Houndour...they're strange. He's read about packs of them before...but they didn't have pink foreheads and purple rings and ridges, right?

There's no time to ponder what that means, though. He'd have to look for explanations later.

The dogs are closing in, and there's too many of them to fight safely.

Kirlia's looking a little nervous.

"Kirlia, Starmie, in your pokeballs. If they want a chase, they're going to get one."

And with a quick motion after recalling them, he summons Swiftfire behind him!

She turns this way and that, very confused. This wasn't where she remembered being last!

Nathan quickly mounts her!

"No time to explain, girl! We need to get out of here, head towards those sounds of combat and...whatever that bright light over there is, since it seems to be coming from that direction! You need to try and outrun these dogs!"

Maybe with Swiftfire's help, he can outrun these hounds. But, if they continue to get in the way of progressing towards that bright light, the direction he heard the sounds of combat coming from, he'll be summoning Starmie and Porygon(?) to deal with them. If Porygon isn't available for some reason, then Grid will be summoned instead.

[Lord Windos]

Upon Striking the vile Hounder in retaliation for its aggresive actions, Ven turned to quickly assess how his Pokémon were doing, and his face somehow grew even more thunderous at what he saw. Apsis body was beginning to bruise from the constant Psychic assault, but she in hardy enough condition to began devouring the horrid mutt she was facing. His archangel, on the other hand, was clearly suffering from a a scalding hot Burn, embers glowing brightly on their soot covered body. 

Again, Ven's hand darted in his bag and this time pulled out a Burn Heal, which he immediately sprayed down on his ailing Raphael. The researcher then whirled on the Houndour he brutally threatened and  Struck it twice on the head, a toothy scowl plastered on his face as he commented to his assault. 'These beasts...I will hunt them all down and slaughter them like the dogs they are! I tolerate no threat towards me, my friends, or Pokémon, as these demonic vermin will learn.' Ventura thought, savagely beating his chosen opponent with well beyond the effort required to kill it. They are well and truly furious. 

Raphael, not nearly as...upset their master is, but still quite angry at the Houndour, blazed forward in a exerlerating burst of speed and slammed into the beast! They will not hurt their master!

Order: Ventus is going to Strike twice at the Houndour after using a Burn Heal on Togekiss, while Raphael will use Extremespeed to soften it up or outright knock it out. If the Houndour is knocked out, Ven will instead spend his two action breaking the dog's legs, before...well, yes. He was not exaggerating, guys...

[Iron]

All that remains is to see how much damage the defenders take.



Delta Houndour Round 6
Extremespeed
(4)(2)(6)(5)
2 Str + 3 power -1* vit = 4 dice
(2)(6)(1)(3) 1 damage.

Burn Heal
This takes an action

Strike
(6)(1)
(5)(6) Houndour A takes 2 damage and faints It never turns to flee, boldly gazing at Ventus as he orders its slaughter and delivers the final blow himself.

Then Ventus does what he promised as our scene fades to black...



Togekiss, Apsis, and Ventus gain 7XP each (this includes all 5 Houndour). Ventus gains +2 for heroism, and gains a Will point! He feels tougher having survived such a determined assault!
One question I have for Ventus is, what will he do with his sleeping friend?

Ventus does not discern Nathan, since Swiftfire is the same color light as the Houndour, and Nathan is just one more shouting human in the background.

[Lord Windos]

As the demonic dog fell to his last blow, Venus swoops down upon it, stabbing it violently to keep the dog conscious yet still too weak to retaliate. Firmly planting his Tirch Spear into the black earth, he gently laid down the still slumbering Shiva, blessedly still sound asleep despite the chaos of the battle, on the ground. Apsis and Raphael moved to guard the both of them, not going to let any more abominations dare try to harm them, glaring defiantly into the blackness.

Then, with agonizing slowness, Ventus hunched downed over to pained dog, and smiled at them, his eyes boring into the mutts own pair with sincere Certainty. "Still so bold, even when you are laid before me like so. I'll certainly correct that false sense of superiority before I'm done with you. So relax, for this will be the last time you will do so in your miserable life."  Done with intimidating the Houndour, he gripped one of its legs, before starting his grisly act with an audible *Snap!*

{After said act of brutality...}

Standing up from the thoroughly tortured demon dog corpses, Ventus wiped his bloody hands on it body, before turning around and picking up Shiva once more. He looked upon her peaceful expression, before softly brushing some stray hairs back into place. "Shiva...rest well, my friend. I will see us out of this hellish landscape. I promise you this. May Reshirim guide me to safety," he quietly whisper, feeling his protective feelings flaring more strongly than ever before (VIT going up by 1 for 20 XP!)!

With nothing barring his path any longer, he continued towards to large glowing red light, picking up his Red and Blue Torch Staffs as he continued onwards. Only way left is forward...

Order: Continue onward on my prior path towards the large red glow, until he reaches it, Nathan stops it, or something else does. The battle is over... but is the war only beginning?

[Iron]

Swiftfire is faster than the Houndour, but they do not seem to tire, and they know this territory well. At every overhang or hollow, Houndour are leaping out to cut Swiftfire off. She changes direction exactly as they wish - as an ungulate, she responds to Houndour with a prey's mad instinct.

But the Houndour do not hurt her; they simply nip at her fiery heels, enjoying the sport of the chase. They bay excitedly and call out to each other, sometimes even letting Swiftfire gain a momentary lead, tiring her out and drawing out the length of the chase.

With a rancher's instincts, Nathan manages to guide Swiftfire until they have pulled ahead, though they are a bit far from the ridge now. That's when two of the Houndour leap out from nowhere in a flash of purple light, one a bit more scarred than the other. The light hits Nathan like a jolt of wakefulness, like the feeling of chugging a huge mug of coffee first thing in the morning.

The two strange Houndour are close enough that they'll get at least one attack in before Swiftfire can outdistance them.

Initiatives:
Houndour A and B: (5)
Swiftfire: (2)