[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Aha.
So it was true that they were, even if not solely, after her.


........ The last two words resonated within her mind, loudly, neatly blocking out everything around and causing her to focus solely on the information that was, hopefully, to come now. Practically every fiber of her being silently yet unmistakable screamed 'Do tell me why! ...Please!! Let me know what you know.'

One of her hands' grip on Ventus' hand also increased.

[Dragonstrike]

Dagny presses a button, and a few screens go blank. "Any part of this conversation that you desire will be off the record. It probably wouldn't do if it got out I had advised a child to go into battle. But Nathan, if it is not clear to you by now, I don't consider you a child."

"To introduce our topic today, I learned that the Scimitars were planning an attack on the Little Cup. One of their targets, though not the only one, was you, Shiva. Nathan? Care to fill her in?"

Nathan nods.

"Dagny called me during your Little Cup match earlier, Shiva.  Said I should find somewhere quiet, then told me that her Porygon had intercepted an email that talked about a plan to attack the Little Cup.  Didn't say why, just that there was one, it was occurring today, and that the attack was going to be coming from underneath Tanuki's tower on the Battle Plateau.  The gall of them, doing something like this literally underneath Tanuki's nose..."

"...Dagny asked me to check it out.  Went to the base of the tower with Calam, and he was incredibly aggressive and on guard.  Asked him to use Future Sight to confirm that something was amiss, and that only cemented that there was immediate danger, so I had to act immediately.  Upon entering the tower, Calam's Future Sight slammed a manhole cover shut as the attackers were trying to open it to enter.  A little prep work later, and I was ready for whatever was coming out from that underground tunnel."

"...mostly.  Two Scimitars emerged only seconds later.  Their immediate reactions to seeing me were 'he knows the girl, so let's take him' and 'he has two psychic types, so let's take those too.'  A wave of their gauntleted hands later, and they'd fileld the room with enough illusions to match Kirlia's Double Team.  Not that it helped hide them from Razor Wind and Kirlia's psychic powers."

A pause.  Right, Dagny and Heart don't necessarily know what a Scimitar is...

"...sorry, should probably explain what a Scimitar is in the first place.  They're a small, secretive organization that specialize in using metal gauntlets of some kind and are very selective in who gets to join their ranks.  I don't understand fully how it works, but those gauntlets allow them to do things like manipulate the earth and water, and they seem to rely more on their own powers than those of pokemon.  Encountered a scimitar over a month ago that created a swamp near Ginger Town on Route 01, right before the Spring Festival.  He seemed to be a particularly powerful one.  The ones I encountered in the tower were chumps by comparison.  They burst a rafter to create a 'sandstorm', were slow and clumsy...and weirdly enough, the Scimitars seem to have some kind of type affinity as well, probably thanks to those gauntlets.  Every Scimitar I've encountered so far seems to be at least resistant to Psychic attacks.  The one we encountered over a month ago took a lot of damage from Swiftfire's Embers.  The ones I encountered in the tower...one of them wasn't super fazed by Calam's Razor Wind, but the other took nothing from it, and both of them seemed to be completely immune to Electric attacks.  However, the one who took nothing from Razor Wind was VERY afraid of Calam's Night Slash.  And when he attacked...it was like he was using some kind of supernatural, ghostly energy...the hairs on the back of my neck were raised, Kirlia got hurt rather badly by the attack, and it harmed Grid, my Jol...er, Galvantula, a decent amount as well..."

"...wasn't much opportunity to get information from them.  Opted to beat them up first, ask questions later.  They threatened to steal my pokemon, were after Shiva for I don't know what reason...so I had Grid trap 'em in there with Spider Web while Calam beat them into submission.  Fun fact: I discovered that if you KO a Scimitar while they're using their gauntlets, the metal gloves explode in their faces."

There's a rather...wicked smile on Nathan's face for a moment as he says that last part.  And then it's gone as he continues.

"...and then the police showed up and handled the cleanup as quietly as possible, insisted I try and keep it quiet too.  I take it that's where you two came in?  That email had to come from somewhere, but how in the heck did you two get involved in the first place, and what exactly did you do?  I thought Dagny had only called me about squishing these bugs."

Nathan's looking at Valder and Ventus with a raised eyebrow.

[Iron]

"That email is the most classified thing in all this. Don't mention it to anyone outside this room. It apparently did not come from any of the Scimitars who fell this day. We've been talking to them. But do go on, Ventus."

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Hmm... So the Scimitars attacked again? When was the last time they've encountered any of that blasted folk...? Nope, Shiva pefers to not think back to her personal reason why she began to despise them although at first she was moreso scared or highly respectful towards them - if not, to be very honest, almost fascinated by their seemingly magic - but the anger and subtle wrath was definitely there.

Ah, a short session of rummaging within her mind revealed the information she was seeking: Back then in Wineberry, where they infiltrated the Water Base of 'em. Ah, memories... Mostly unnerving memories though, crowned by the sensation that they all made it out there alive in the end. Now they've came back, these Nathan described and met were most likely Earth Scimitars, and they were after her - WHY WERE THEY?! Her gaze carefully moved from Nathan to Ventus and his mercenary... They were involved in that too?

Eh, anyway, this explains why she was not able to find Nathan when she was looking for him. Good explanation. If Dagny would not have contacted him, if Nathan would have failed, if they would have sucessfully... Eeek, nope, Shiva forced herself to stay calm, concentrate on her breath (though not hyperventilate) and remind herself that for now, she was safe.

Seems like these gauntlets give them some sort of Type, similar like a Pokemon? How very interesting to hear. And slightly creepy, but she makes sure to keep in mind what Nathan said about this manner there to later note it down. She got a bad feeling about this... Was this bad feeling of the Almanac having an indirect hand in this, these gauntlets, warrantable?

[Spiritmon]

Spoiler

Dagny presses a button, and a few screens go blank. "Any part of this conversation that you desire will be off the record. It probably wouldn't do if it got out I had advised a child to go into battle. But Nathan, if it is not clear to you by now, I don't consider you a child."

"To introduce our topic today, I learned that the Scimitars were planning an attack on the Little Cup. One of their targets, though not the only one, was you, Shiva. Nathan? Care to fill her in?"

Nathan nods.

"Dagny called me during your Little Cup match earlier, Shiva.  Said I should find somewhere quiet, then told me that her Porygon had intercepted an email that talked about a plan to attack the Little Cup.  Didn't say why, just that there was one, it was occurring today, and that the attack was going to be coming from underneath Tanuki's tower on the Battle Plateau.  The gall of them, doing something like this literally underneath Tanuki's nose..."

"...Dagny asked me to check it out.  Went to the base of the tower with Calam, and he was incredibly aggressive and on guard.  Asked him to use Future Sight to confirm that something was amiss, and that only cemented that there was immediate danger, so I had to act immediately.  Upon entering the tower, Calam's Future Sight slammed a manhole cover shut as the attackers were trying to open it to enter.  A little prep work later, and I was ready for whatever was coming out from that underground tunnel."

"...mostly.  Two Scimitars emerged only seconds later.  Their immediate reactions to seeing me were 'he knows the girl, so let's take him' and 'he has two psychic types, so let's take those too.'  A wave of their gauntleted hands later, and they'd fileld the room with enough illusions to match Kirlia's Double Team.  Not that it helped hide them from Razor Wind and Kirlia's psychic powers."

A pause.  Right, Dagny and Heart don't necessarily know what a Scimitar is...

"...sorry, should probably explain what a Scimitar is in the first place.  They're a small, secretive organization that specialize in using metal gauntlets of some kind and are very selective in who gets to join their ranks.  I don't understand fully how it works, but those gauntlets allow them to do things like manipulate the earth and water, and they seem to rely more on their own powers than those of pokemon.  Encountered a scimitar over a month ago that created a swamp near Ginger Town on Route 01, right before the Spring Festival.  He seemed to be a particularly powerful one.  The ones I encountered in the tower were chumps by comparison.  They burst a rafter to create a 'sandstorm', were slow and clumsy...and weirdly enough, the Scimitars seem to have some kind of type affinity as well, probably thanks to those gauntlets.  Every Scimitar I've encountered so far seems to be at least resistant to Psychic attacks.  The one we encountered over a month ago took a lot of damage from Swiftfire's Embers.  The ones I encountered in the tower...one of them wasn't super fazed by Calam's Razor Wind, but the other took nothing from it, and both of them seemed to be completely immune to Electric attacks.  However, the one who took nothing from Razor Wind was VERY afraid of Calam's Night Slash.  And when he attacked...it was like he was using some kind of supernatural, ghostly energy...the hairs on the back of my neck were raised, Kirlia got hurt rather badly by the attack, and it harmed Grid, my Jol...er, Galvantula, a decent amount as well..."

"...wasn't much opportunity to get information from them.  Opted to beat them up first, ask questions later.  They threatened to steal my pokemon, were after Shiva for I don't know what reason...so I had Grid trap 'em in there with Spider Web while Calam beat them into submission.  Fun fact: I discovered that if you KO a Scimitar while they're using their gauntlets, the metal gloves explode in their faces."

There's a rather...wicked smile on Nathan's face for a moment as he says that last part.  And then it's gone as he continues.

"...and then the police showed up and handled the cleanup as quietly as possible, insisted I try and keep it quiet too.  I take it that's where you two came in?  That email had to come from somewhere, but how in the heck did you two get involved in the first place, and what exactly did you do?  I thought Dagny had only called me about squishing these bugs."

Nathan's looking at Valder and Ventus with a raised eyebrow.

Heart was absorbing all this information about this Scimitars persons. "...You guys indeed have talent to fall in trouble. But at least this problem is solven for now. I kinda scare to ever fight against these people. Persons with super natural powers...this scare me. That typing affinity kinda remind me the Earthpower a little. Not much but something similar. We need to be cautious more then ever."

[Lord Windos]

(...)

Nathan's looking at Valder and Ventus with a raised eyebrow.

Ventus, who had quietly yet intensely listened to every minutia of detail in Nathan tale of battling and conquering those vile, hellspawn of mages, stepped forward when he had finished his part of the briefly and signaled for him to begin his own, with one still grasping Shiva's to comfort her while he recounted their part in this Little Cup Crisis.

"Roughly around the time that Nathan was about to engage with those Scimitars, I was busy feeding my Pokémon in the Center when I received a call from Valder, instrusting me to make haste to the Department Center and make my way to its basement, or one of them at any rate. Judging by my mercenary tone and the ominous contents of his message, I knew that the matter was dire and warrented my attention, so I made haste to the location. On the way I disguised myself on the chance we would encounter individuals that might recognize myself, or in case survaliance was used to try and put my appearance on record for duplicitous and/or malicious use."

"Eventually we both made our way to the basement, and confronted what we soon found out were two Scimitars in a small, secretive lab, monitoring the Little Cup via unknown means.  Fortunately, we were able to bluff them in by claiming to be reinforcements, and we were able to pump them of information while making sure. To summerize, this is what we learned: they were coordinating and readying the deployment of the 'Blackout' that would have crippled the Little Cup in its entirely and caused a chaotic uproar with the two Scimitars that Nathan apprehended, whose name were Gren and Greave. I suspect those are codenames rather than their true ones, but that is besides the point. The main purpose of doing so is as Nathan said: abduct Shiva, and find the location of a place known as 'The Secret Library' , which they said was located somewhere underneath Mt. Sentry. What the place is exactly is currently unknown, but thanks to Valder we know that their is at least a tool or item called 'The Guantlet in there. I then made an excuse to go to the bathroom in order to discretely contact with you Dagney and asked for my parameters in this unexpected stealth op. I was told to delay them and maintain my cover until reinforcements arrived, and when they did I excused myself and let the Scimitars be captured. That is the main story."

"To elaborate on the details, I learned that Scimitars are expected to have their Gauntlets on at all times when they enter a Base, and they have a complicated salute that goes like so *Preforms it to everyone* as a form of greeting. The way they were going to cause the Little Cup to blackout involved with magic spells they have named after Pokémon Moves, with the specific combination being the spells Charge, Electrify, Magnetic Influx, and Errie Impulse. In conjuction with the rain, they were hoping the blackout would have gone unnoticed by police and the authorities, though sadly that wasn't the case. The Scimitar I was talking to also mentioned that both Gren and Greave were packing 'Ground' , referring to either their spell loadout, or a part of their Gauntlet loadout. This might explain why they were immune to Nathan's Galvantula's Electric moves, if their loadout conferred upon them Ground type's immunity towards the type. Additionally, they implied or think that a schism faction of the Scimitars have been leaking information and trying to stop their faction from gaining access to the library. That, and they heavily model themselves after the vile mages of yore, and I got basic hints of a hierchary and apprenticeship program within their ranks. As for how they acquired the knowledge that Shiva knew the whereabouts of the Secret Library, they claimed that a Dr. Hyperiac told her vital information about it, and that he too is looking for the arcane location. I do not know much about the man, besides the fact that he's currently working with the Shelter on assignment. The Scimitars claim he isn't a member and consider him a rival, but that doesn't mean he doesn't posses his own unique threat level. "

" Given the knowledge we have learned today and in the past, plus what we know of the magic, tools and technology they wield AND the seemingly vast influence they hold, I would say the Scimitars are a sizable threat. The fact they had a base of operations right under all our noses cements they are crafty, well connected, and generously funded on top of that. All in all, they have proven themselves an organized and dangerous threat to the saftely and peace of the Cheshire region, and should be handled with extreme prejudice ."

The researcher then took a deep breath after disgorging that much exposition on his role in all these events this past night, before stepping backwards and returning to Shiva's side, nodding his head at Dagney, signaling to her that was done with his de-briefing. The question now is how will the Steel Wonder react to all the data that has been presented to her?

[Dragonstrike]

Nathan looks at Valder when Ventus finishes.

"Alright, so how in Aotius's name did you get involved, then? That all sounds a little too convenient without further detail..."

(Nathan will react to the library stuff after Valder says his piece)

[Iron]

Dagny nods at Valder /@Nylon , too.

"The four men we captured all carried dual Trainer Cards, that could be switched between two modes. In other words, they all had false identities, including a Gren persona and a Greave persona. They definitely have resources, and we know that a lot of their bases are wired to self-destruct in some way."

"I've been getting lots of minor intel about these Scimitars, but on one in the League is quite sure what to do with a cadre of mages, of all things. All reports of humans with magical powers in the past 100 years have been thoroughly debunked as frauds. Only Pokemon can have anything resembling magic. So no one can really make head or tails of this new circumstance."

"We gathered some things from their lab. Seems only right that you should have them. Some of it I assume was stolen, but these items are untraceable."

Here's some treasure for you guys to divide up:
-$600 for each of you
-Ice Beam TM
-Pay Day TM ($ = Insight + Survival times 5 each time the move is successful) (We'll use this list plus any Pokemon with the move in Pokerole)
-Aerial Ace TM
-Thief TM
-Stone Edge TM
-10 Pokeballs, 5 Great Balls

Dagny will buy a TM from you for 1500$.

You also all gain a Will point out of (temporary?) feelings of relief.

[Dragonstrike]

Nathan's eying that TM for Pay Day while waiting for Valder's response.  That's a reeeaaallly rare TM...he'd only ever heard of that TM existing in Kanto...of course, rare TMs also typically have a low number of pokemon that can learn them...

...but hadn't he read something once about some braggart and his Pay Day using Rapidash and Fearow?  Only real reason that had kept his attention was it involved a Rapidash...

...if Swiftfire could learn the move...hmmm...

Failing that, Solomon should be able to learn it for sure, since he's definitely heard of Slowpoke/bro being able to use the move, so a Slowking should be able to as well...(which it can since you can trade a Slowpoke with Pay Day over to gen 2, then evolve it with a King's Rock.)

[Iron]

You split the Pokeballs evenly.

Dagny asks if you have any other questions (I know we're waiting on Valder but we can flash back to that).

Aside from Valder's testimony, are we ready for the next game day?