[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

"Very well. Enough with this pointless bickering, we have a battle to commence, and these hounds seem to be as blood thirsty as I am for this fight....good," Ventus said, a slashersmile ripping across his face as he turned to stare back at his opponents. "Eye for an eye, pain for pain, they are all going to die today!"

[Dragonstrike]

(And for music, here's a selection! Got a favorite?)

The Pack Leader:
- Heroes of our Time (Starchaser Short Version) - DragonForce
- The Only Thing I Know for Real - Metal Gear Rising: Revengence
- Ba'al Battle - Bravely Default

[Nylon]

Valder looks around as he catches his breath.
 'What are they all doing here? And where am I?' First now Valder realizes the awkward place he's in. Though he kinda fancies the sky. Anyway, Ven-guy & Co look moody and ready for a fist fight... except the girl, she seems to be fast asleep.

 Valder spots the Houndoom. Boom. 10exp spent on Insight (2 now).

 "Froakie? Do you mind using some more bubbles?" Valder sends out Theo which means all his Pokemon are out.
 "So, I don't know this place, but I know a monster when I see one. When I say so, I want you all to get the enemies out. Remember, that girl and the two boys are on the same side as us... currently at least. So, Froakie, just use your wide-range bubble against those that annoy you the most.

 Theo, use Feint Attack on the Houndoom I believe in you and your strength!! But Evade if they throw a Fire type move at you!"

 Valder walks to Ventus.
 "Are we fighting this thing? Me and mine are ready when you say so".

       Bubble: 2pwr + 3str + 1stab = 6dmg.    3dex + 1fight  + 1cana =5acc. Hits all enemies. roll one CD to lower speed.

Feint Attack: 2pwr + 3str + 1stab = 6dmg.   3dex + 1fight + 0brawl =4acc. Can't miss.

   Theo is holding Razor Claw

[Dragonstrike]

Though Valder was talking to Ventus, Nathan's the one who answers first. "Good of you to join us, Valder. These dogs are Psychic and Fire, just so you know. I'll explain where we are and what's going on when we're done here. For now, focus on the battle. We need to KO these dogs. Do NOT let them reach Shiva."

Growling could be heard coming from the cave now...not much time left for conversation. Time for a battle!

[Lord Windos]

 Valder walks to Ventus.
 "Are we fighting this thing? Me and mine are ready when you say so".

"Yes we are, my mercenary chum. We are going to talk about just how you ended up here, amount other thing, but now is not the time for that! I suggest that you don't order all of your Pokémon at once, and just have one hangin back guarding Shiva with Nathan. If one of your Pokémon gets knocked out, you can quickly recall them and command the other to join the fray," Ventus responded, his eyes briefly glancing at Valde and his .'mons, before refocusing on the Houndoom. It needs to go DOWN.

[Nylon]

Though Valder was talking to Ventus, Nathan's the one who answers first.  "Good of you to join us, Valder.  These dogs are Psychic and Fire, just so you know.  I'll explain where we are and what's going on when we're done here.  For now, focus on the battle.  We need to KO these dogs.  Do NOT let them reach Shiva."

Growling could be heard coming from the cave now...not much time left for conversation.  Time for a battle!

Valder looked over at Nate. Oh, right. He despiced it when he called him that. Correction: Valder looked over at Nathan.

 "Got it". Valder looked over at his pokemon to relay the message. "Ghastly. How about... you relax here with me? Maybe there's something in the air here that you can feed on, or something. I dunno!"

[Nylon]

 Valder walks to Ventus.
 "Are we fighting this thing? Me and mine are ready when you say so".

"Yes we are, my mercenary chum. We are going to talk about just how you ended up here, amount other thing, but now is not the time for that! I suggest that you don't order all of your Pokémon at once, and just have one hangin back guarding Shiva with Nathan. If one of your Pokémon gets knocked out, you can quickly recall them and command the other to join the fray," Ventus responded, his eyes briefly glancing at Valde and his .'mons, before refocusing on the Houndoom. It needs to go DOWN.

 'huh. Ventus seems to be in a good mood. I must have been wrong'.
 "I just thought the same, Ghastly will stay, I guess he can help protecting Shiva."
 'How I got here... That's a strange thing for him to ask'. Valder shrugs and focuses himself on the hounds.

(I'm very sorry, but I'm leaving very soon! anything I need to know?)

[Iron]

Mega Houndoom Round 1

Froakie launches a bubble which expands to fill the cave, drenching all the Houndour at once. It's a great way to let those beasts know the party is here!

Bubble
(5)(5)(6)(2)(3) - 3 successes
We haven't yet had a move that hits all enemies where the enemies had different Defense scores. I will keep the same dice roll for all enemies, but those with higher defense scores will see the rightmost dice disappear.
6 dice, -2 Vit for the guards = 4d6+1
(4)(6)(4)(2) In one stroke, all the guards are down to 1hp, except for one alert survivor who attempts to Evade.
Evade
(5)(2)(6)(4)(4) This one Houndour evades and moves into position in front of the Houndoom, granting partial cover (reducing 1 damage dice and taking 1 dmg)
Houndoom takes 2 damage, having 4 Vit in mega form. Being oversized, her total HP is 9. So she now has 7/9hp.
Chance: (5)

Feint Attack
(2)(6)(3)(4) Hit
(3)(5) +1 Houndoom takes 2 dmg. 5/9hp.

Houndoom turns and bathes the invading Pawniard in a stream of flames from her mouth. He has no time to evade, his guard down from appearing behind the Houndoom, his dark blades still extended.

Flamethrower
3 Dex + 3 Fight + 3 canalize -1 pain -3 actions = 5 dice
(4)(6)(5)(2)(3)
3 Str + 3 power +1 STAB -2 vit = 5d6+1
(4)(6)(4)(4)(1) Theo faints in a bath of flame!!
Burn: (5)

The three guards who haven't yet acted immediately launch Smokescreens at the most dangerous opponents, the water types who might have Bubble.

Smokescreen on Starmie
5 dice, -3 pain
(6)(3) -1 acc Starmie

Smokescreen on Froakie
(2)(6) -1 acc Froakie

Smokescreen on Corsola
(5)(4) -1 acc Corsola

Bubble from Ariel
2 dex 2 fight 2 canalize -2 actions -1 smoke
(4)(1)(4) Hit.
2 Str + 2 power +1 stab -2 vit =3d6+1
(2)(4)(3) All but one Houndour pass out, and Ventus has a chance to kick one as he runs past to better see the battle through the smoke. The remaining Houndour has 2/5hp.
Houndoom has 4/9hp, taking only the SE damage.
Chance: (4)


Electroweb
(5)(2)(3)(6)(1) Hit
(2)(4)(3)(3) Houndour 1/5hp -1 Dex
Houndoom 3/9hp -1 Dex

Swift
(6)(1)(4) Hit
(1)(2)(3) No damage, but the Houndoom growls as the stars pass all around her and through her pack, fanning the flames of those fainted Houndour it strikes.

Growl
(4)(2)(1)
-1 dmg dice from all enemy attacks

Wounded, her guards decimated by harsh wet area attacks, too much energy flying around, putting a real damper on their fire, on their sport. She gives a howl, calling for backup, but she knows it is too late. She shifts the stone in her mouth, apparently ready to spit it as far as she can, or perhaps to crush it in her fangs.

Flamethrower on Raphael
She's left with 1 accuracy dice.
(4) Hit
(1)(4)(2)(5)(*growl) Raphael takes 2 damage.
Burn: (3)

Harden lol
(6)(3)

Electroweb
(4)(3)(6)(2)
(2)(6)(6)(1) Final Houndour faints.
Houndoom takes 1 dmg 2/9

The field has become a complete chaos of smoke, crackling webs, streaming rivulets of water choked with ash, and bouncing bolts of fire. Starmie adds some sparkling stars to this mess, and Houndoom has nowhere to run...with one exception.

Swift
(3)(3) Hits anyway
(3) No damage.

After You
2 dex + 2 fight + 0 etiquette -3 actions
(1)

Flamethrower
Mega Houndoom is too weak to focus properly on her aim, especially with all the webs around tripping her up. She elects instead to simply focus on burning them up with her footsteps.

Electroweb
(6)(6)(6)
(5)(4) Houndoom staggers. She takes a deep breath, absorbing darkness into her body, temporarily patching wounds just long enough for her to fling the purple stone out of the cave mouth. It only flies about 20 feet; Ventus even sees it arc over his head as he's kicking a fainted Houndour. Houndoom flickers and staggers again, limping into a slumped position, swaying back and forth, her eyes closing...

The dream starts to fade. It all happened so fast...in the space of five or six seconds, the entire pack and the cave itself were battered to pieces. Now blackness starts to seep through into everyone's consciousness, obscuring vision. More typical dreamstuff lurches into view, typical for each character's sleeps - flying men, a gamut of closet monsters, family members with blank faces. Those who never remember their dreams cannot later even recall what seeped in as the obsidian dreamscape faded, but they will never forget their encounter with the Delta Houndour.

Ventus wakes up in the darkness, feeling his hammock beneath him.
Nathan wakes up at Shiva's bed, as does Kirlia.
Valder spars with Gastly for a few dream-moments before the ghost eats the dream. Gastly learns Dream Eater.
Anyone else who has a Pokemon with Dream Eater, that move now costs half as much - but only Pokemon in your party right now.

Shiva, however, is still too exhausted to wake up just now...

Everyone gains a Will point, though you all feel as exhausted as if this had all really happened. It was a good sleep, though...

All your Pokemon heal half the damage they took in the dream world.

Theo gains 2Xp. Froakie gains 8XP. Ariel gains 5Xp. Raphael gains 5XP. Starmie gains 5Xp. Grid gains 5XP.
Each trainer gains 12XP, including 2XP for heroism.

Shiva continues to dream...

[Iron]

Shiva dreams of running from strange purple hounds. They chase her through the Pokemon Center, out its doors into a bleak landscape. She locks the door behind her, and they are trapped inside.

In a coppice of burnt trees, another sport is occurring. Two Houndour chase a poor gray cat Pokemon with scared wide purple eyes. It's running straight at Shiva! She finds she can control the dream to a certain extent, at least her own actions therein.

[Dragonstrike]

Music: Silence. No soundtrack needed here.

Nathan wakes up with a start at the same time as Kirlia. They're breathing heavily.

They turn to look at each other...Nathan then turns to look at Shiva...

Still snoozing. Helios is close by, looking...guarded? Protective?

He has to think for a moment about what happened...

Their attack had proved successful...but as soon as Houndoom went down and flung that Mega Stone...one of the things he'd been hoping to bring back as proof that the Dreamscape had indeed been real if at all possible...

Nathan scrambles to check his bag.

Does he still have Houndour? Did that Flash Ball actually take a picture of the Dreamscape? Had someone managed to grab the Mega Stone and bring it back before that nightmare had faded? Even just one of those could be proof enough if he needed it...he didn't know how possible having any of those might be, but it hadn't stopped him from trying...