[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

Nurse Joy agrees with Kirlia's decision. "He needs rest. No excitement, no trainers with steely looks in their eyes. And NO AXEW."

Ventus tilts his head at the sudden sterness of the Nurse's rebuke, as he honestly thought/knew that Heart gesture was entirely well meaning, before politely nodding his head to her, turning to leave the clinic. "Understood, mam. I leave my friend in your care then, and pray to Reshirim that our battle with him has not inreprocally damage his mind or body, and that he makes a full recovery poste haste. Please be alright, Nate..." he said, the last part so barely a whisper as he walked out of the room, making his way towards the lobby and out of the Center doors. He was far too restless to rest his head at the current moment - not with Nathan out of action or Shiva still wandering about - and their was still some slivers of daylight left to work by, so the researcher decided to look for a challenger to quell his restless spirits, before heading back and seeing if the lass had returned or the boy had gotten any better. A nice battle would do him some good, and his family members that didn't get a chance (He's not sure if that is a good or bad thing, in retrospect) to duke it out against Nathan most likely had anxious energy that needed to be burned as well!

Order: Placing a $385 Poke bet on a 2v2 Single battle with Lucifer (Lead) and Haneal as my Pokémon of choice. If I have the time and energy, a battle can quickly solve both of those problems!

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Neat, it seemed to Shiva that Braixen didn't even cared that Lampent could consume his flames like nothing, it must have encouraged him instead. Where it the fact his flames burn hotter in bad times, that he wanted to prove his strenght or the fact that he became the Familiar of Shiva? Didn't matter in the end, it only added more to Shiva's thankfullness that the small fox decided to join her there in the forest. Pretty sure he'll be an amazng Delphox some day... It was just a little sad that Ventus will likely never see her scattering magic with her fox, but it is for the better of everyone.

He chirped calmly as the battle has ended and he and the small cherrylike Pokemon were still standing as the winners. Despite all this, Master was a good person, she saw what she did wrong and reacted accordingly by temporarly letting him train under that person with green sweaters... Nightshade meanwhile was overjoyed how she survived an encounter with a bird Pokemon without being eaten, and directly leaped into Shiva's arms as she came closer! She gladly allowed that - Pokemon aren't just dare to listen to worries and comfort their owner in sadness, but also to share happy moments - this was just another display that strenghtened Shiva in this belief. "See, dear one? Nothin' has happened to you. Though, this Vullaby is just a young one, but I'll be there to aid you through encounters of birds. You shall be and remain my sunbringer, you know?~"

At Hearts encouragement, Shiva's spirit lifted up just a little more, which was visible by a coy thankful smile to him. "Hehe... thanks, I guess? It could have been way different though... Like, if the Lampent would simply consume my fox's flames to empower himself." Turning to the witches then, she half-bowed to them. "Quite a good challenge, fortune led me to you, and therefor I thank thee. It is as Heart here says, the path is wide open for a young Pokemon like Vullaby. Now, uhm..."

"OK, trainer, you won! But you made Vullaby a bit dispirited. Why don't you show us one of your Workings to cheer him up?"

"Ah, gladly! Let's see... " *turning to Braixen, who already extinguished his basswood stick and put it away* "The sun stands rather low meanwhile, but if Nightshade brightens it up for you, you think you can... hmm... show us how you create patterns with your enlighted basswood stick for communication with others? Or just some acrobatics with it... Or howl a little to the low sun, it's been a while since we trained your Howl. Magic resides here, and for once feel free to give everything and delight your defeated foe."

With that said, Shiva looked over to young Vullaby standing on the lip of the cauldron again, but it wasn't cackling to the sky like it was before. "Besides, do you people tell me what you were actually doing here before I came? It looked like some sort of ceremony to me." Those words were spoken out softly, and there was a clearly interested undertone in her voice. These people were witches it seems... And Shiva was quite eager to learn about their witchcraft conducted here.

How neat, this whole encounter nicely lifted her spirits and distracted her from the sorrow felt due to the battle against Nathan to a degree where the emotional rollercoaster is coming to an end and balances itself out again. Wounds, however, remain.

[Iron]

Ventus, on the opposite end of town, meets with an absentminded trainer and asks for a battle.

"Sure! I like to use healing items in battles, if that's OK. Fainting, or not? My Slowbro has a few support moves, but Snorunt's are mostly chancy moves. They're slow, but strong! Just the kind of Pokemon I like to train. I also like to play card games, so if you want to play some penny poker or something after our battle, I'd be up for that! Or to trade League Cards, if you collect those? I have a rare Red, and a Gary Oak. I like cards so much my friends call me Handtipper!"

Lucifer (2) +5 = 7
Slowbro (6) +1 Dex +0 Survival = 7

[Iron]

"Oh yes! We sisters two love to perform our Workings for Vullaby, and he loves to watch! This is a spell to, ummm...what was it again, Toil?"

"It calls the stars to shine brighter! It must be performed as the sun sinks low."

"Yes, that's it! Oh, your Braixen's antics are so cute!"

"I agree! We use redroot, and hair of cat, and stem of wandwood in this spell!" Shiva can tell these ingredients aren't actually herbologically significant. Looks like these two witches are just out for a bit of fun, and are possibly just humoring Vullaby. Hard to tell whether they believe in magic or not, but they do enjoy Braixen's version.

[Lord Windos]

Ventus, on the opposite end of town, meets with an absentminded trainer and asks for a battle.

"Sure! I like to use healing items in battles, if that's OK. Fainting, or not? My Slowbro has a few support moves, but Snorunt's are mostly chancy moves. They're slow, but strong! Just the kind of Pokemon I like to train. I also like to play card games, so if you want to play some penny poker or something after our battle, I'd be up for that! Or to trade League Cards, if you collect those? I have a rare Red, and a Gary Oak. I like cards so much my friends call me Handtipper!"

Lucifer (2) +5 = 7
Slowbro (6) +1 Dex +0 Survival = 7

Holding his chin with one hand, Ventus thought over his battle terms for a moment, before he nodded his head in agreement. "I agree to these terms of battle, my friend. I most likely will not be using any healing items of my own, though, since I am attempting to be a bit more frugle with my Poke for future purchases I'd like to conduct, so keep that in mind. As for the card games, I'm sorry to say that I will have to decline your offers. Tomorrow I leave for Stair City, and I require all the rest for the long journey ahead, so forgive me."

Lucifer, who had taken the time to Frisk his opponent while his master was talking with the other training when they release him, thought over the best way to effectively take down that tanky sloath, before their eyes lite up eagerly as a plan came to mind. So they took a great big breath, their chest puffing up rather cutely as they did so, before they [b]released an ear splitting burst of noise straight at Slowbrow, before quickly swooping down to rank its fangs against its delicate pink flesh! It may not be fruit skin, but his teeth will still savage it regardless!

Order: One Screech on Slowbro, follow by two Bite Attacks onto it. If the first Screech misses, it will instead use its second action to use Screech again; if that misses, then it'll just sink its fangs into it. Hopefully Lucifer will do better against a Psychic type than Raphael did...

Moves:

Screech
Accuracy: DEX (2) + Fight (3) + Channel (3) - 3 Actions = 5D6 Dice
Effect: - 2 Defense

Bite
Accuracy: 7D6 - 4/5 Actions = 3/2D6 Dice
Damage: STR (3) + 2 + SE - Vitality (?) = 5D6 + 1 Base Damage
Effect: *Flitch 3*

[Dragonstrike]

Kirlia makes sure Nurse Joy knows which of Nathan's pokemon need healing (and that Calam is recalled before any more trouble is caused), and then gets busy meditating once everyone else has left the back room.

The best thing he can do to help Nathan right now is to join him in some quiet reflection.  He can tell Nathan is still active on a deep, subconscious level, struggling to process what's happened and what he's learned...Kirlia would have to spend a good chunk of time trying to help him calm down a little...but a comforting, calm presence should hopefully speed things up a little.

Hopefully Nathan will be feeling a little better when he wakes up...

(Any chance we can count this as a training session for Kirlia since he's trying to help Nathan by keeping a Calm Mind himself, @Iron?)

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

"I agree! We use redroot, and hair of cat, and stem of wandwood in this spell!" Shiva can tell these ingredients aren't actually herbologically significant. Looks like these two witches are just out for a bit of fun, and are possibly just humoring Vullaby. Hard to tell whether they believe in magic or not, but they do enjoy Braixen's version.

Now that was neat... It seemed that despite her inital thoughts, Shiva was actually more magical than these two...'witches'. Or so it seemed, from what they told. Nevermind, the thought is there, fascination is there and it all makes Vullaby happy, so no problem with it! It wouldn't even matter whether they believe in true magic or not, she gladly lets them have their fun! It all was harmless as well, so it's unlikely that they'd get dragged away into the darker arts of magic without even fully noticing and ending up harming themeselves and others by that. They own a Lampent after all, so they likely know how to take care of themselves.

This was was actually rather enjoyable for Shiva, almost cute, and she decided to just jump into it and play along. "These are all good ingredients for the spell! Though to empower it even more, another one is needed... Give me a moment, I know I still have one left..." Rummaging in bagpack for a little - nope, it wasn't there nor here, so it must be in a side pocked among the packages of Gourmet Food... "Oh, THERE it is!" In a way too dramatic gesture, Shiva presented them the single cinnamon stick she got at a shop in Corsage! "I know, it just looks like an ordinary stick of a cinnamon tree... But only few know that it doesn't just has a neat aroma and spices up desserts! Nooooope, if ground to a fine power and three pinches of it are thrown into a cauldron after adding the hair of cat Pokemon, it's almost impossible that the spell fails. You know..." *breaking the stick of cinnamon into half, and handing one of them to Vullaby to pick it up from her open hand* "...Because I enjoyed the battle and your antics, you can have this. Use it well, dear Vullaby, and grow to a strong adult Pokemon!~"

As for the other half of the cinammon stick, it's handed to Braixen to eat it up as a snack and reward that hasn't lost trust in his Master. "Eat it up, dear one. It'll nicely spice up your inner flames." Actually not really, but Toil and Trouble don't need to know about this.


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Mechanics:
Unless Nightshade gets enough XP to learn Magical Leaf now to further delight the scene, it's time to leave the witchy place now and head back to the Center to get dinner and head to bed early. Shiva isn't walking very fast, so she might run into Ventus just at or shortly after she arrived there.

[Spiritmon]

"What a stick situation. Sorry, couldnt resist." Heart play along with Shiva about the magical thing. He still have some takoyaki with him and give one to Vullaby. "I may not have any magical thing but I have this food who have equal magical taste. Have one little one." Then he give one takoyaki to Vullaby too. Then he looks to Shiva. "Well, can I acompany to the Pokemon Center Shiva? If you dont mind of course. I dont know how to wander in this place sorry."

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

"Oh, uhm... Sure you can join me on the way to the Center." How lucky for his Axew that Cottonee was safely in her Pokeball currently.

[Iron]

Kirlia gets a training roll. 2 insight + 3 knowledge.

(5)(2)(6)(6)(6)

Shiva gains 1 XP. The cinnamon is a great idea. I like that she's always picking up thematic items and using them later, instead of hoarding them. Heart can have 1XP too for beginning to learn about the party!