[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Iron]

Correct. To your knowledge, there aren't any on public display.

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

(...)

The blue flames fade. Chandelure begins fading with them.

Memento 1
(4)(5)(2)(6)(4)
Chandelure faints.
Ventus gets -2 in every stat. His mental defenses are left battered and shredded. He hisses as he sees a wave of hopeless events - but when he comes back to himself he realizes in what feels like sudden insight that none of them are from HIS past! And Reshiram knows, Ventus has enough horrible thoughts in his past to haunt his mind and soul for eternity, to bring him to his knees in grief.

Instead, he sees a first person view of someone holding a stick and swatting at a Doublade, who parries gently.
He sees tears staining fresh earth before a fuzzy gravestone. The year on it: 1466.
He sees a trio of Sableye, chewing on a jeweled necklace, fighting over it. Tearing it in their haste to devour.
He sees an endless maze of small, claustrophobic tunnels, and no hope of ever seeing the light again.

Simple Haneal just stares at Ventus, forgetting his commands.

Ventus will definitely need a moment to recover. You can throw Pokeballs at Chandelure with a Will roll, no penalties to it. (That will include debuffing it from Apsis.)

As the baleful blue flames of Chandelure extinguished themselves in Memento, Ventus only had enough time for his eyes to widen in fear as it conjured up what could only be described as pure Hopelessness.......before it was forcibly projected right into his soul.

Ventablack

Slash, parry, repeat. Grow strong and overcome what stands in your way, become more than you are. 

Grief over what is forever departed. Time misspent, knowing you can never have it back, tell them how you love them.

A jeweled babble, devoured in a frenzy by fiend. Its owner sharing its fate, their fate consumed along with it.

Trapped in the dark, lost and in despair. No one will save you. No one will help you. No one to stop you from dying alone.

...

You share much with these vision.

You shall find you have more in common as time goes on.

You already have began to, after all.

History repeats, and so will yours.

Tell me.

What hope do you have of ever being more than a monster?

One that lurks not in the dark, but walks in the light,

Yet no less dangerous for it.

One that wears a friendly face, that tries to be kind and generous, pretends to be a person that everyone can trust and count on.

One that will lure in victims with pretend smiles and false promises of friendship and love.

One that will strike at the worst of times, and take everything from them, leaving them to rot if they are fortunate.

....

Your family's death was only the catalyst.

Mere tender, to the brimstone furnace you placed yourself in,

That forged you into the being you still are.

No matter how much you deny it.

Remember.

It was you that decided to stop hoping.

Remember.

To stop believing.

Remember.

To stop dreaming of better things to come.

Remember.

And embrace the demon that lay within.

Regret.

When Team Plasma extended their hand to drag you in, you grabbed it with desperate glee.

Regret.

You became their Head Recruiter.

Regret.

You became their best spy.

Regret.

You became their elite torturer.

Regret.

You become Ghetsis right hand man and most ardent support.

Rejoice.

You danced gayly with the Shadows.

Rejoice.

You plotted to enslave Unova.

Rejoice.

You loved it all.

Rejoice.

You cherish those memories, even when they only bring you pain and bitterness.

Repent

Even when you despise them with a hate born out of pure passion.

Repent.

For that was the time in your life you had it all.

Repent.

Power.

Influence.

Respect.

Security

Happiness.

Friendship.

Love.

Everything you could ever want.

A time that allowed you to let go of the petty morals that so fettered and bound.

Don't you wish you could have it all again?

And truly be what you are.

It would be so easy.

A monster.

All you have to do....

A villain.

Is just....

A demon.

stop....

Yourself.

kidding....

So why do you pretend being noble?

yourself....

You are far from it.

and....

You reveled in sin, and courted with devils.

be....

You done things far worse than any mere normal.

who.

Why stop?

you.

Why not continue?

are.

Are you afraid?

meant.

Are you ashamed?

to.

Are you anxious?

B E.

...

Yes.

Yes you are.

You are a weakly.

You are worn out.

You are a wastrel.

Made infirm by his own hand.

Done out of fear and self loathing.

When you the at your most powerful.

How unnecessary.

How foolish.

How wasteful.

Then again.

You are monster.

A being feared by all.

A creature that does what it wants, and gets away with it.

But only until the heroes stop it.

Slay it.

Or it destroys itself.

...

Tell me.

Which do you think will happen first?

Will the 'friends' you've made on this 'research' trip....

Learn who you really are....

And smite you for the demon that you are.

Will you finally give in....

And end your painful existence.....

Or will you give in....

And reclaim what is rightfully yours.

Yes.

Your title.

Your mantle.

Your birthright.

Your inhumanity.

Becoming what you once were.

Still are.

What you will be.

Show the world the terrible thing they have wrought.

Stop pretending.

It will be ok.

No one will blame you.

No one will care.

No one will be surprised.

No one that matters anyway.

After all.

A monster needs no one but themselves.

So become.

Become.

Become.

Become.

BecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecomeBecome

B E  F R E E.......

B  E  W H O  Y O U  T R U L Y  A R E.

"ENOUGH!"

Ventus screams out in anguish, silencing and DESTROYING those sepulcherous thoughts as his mind and Will reassurted themselves and dilgantly set about to eradicate any and all trace of the after effect of the Memento, refortify and restructure his mental defenses, and he slowly but surely became himself once more.

Not what the darkness in his heart says he is.

The empath's eyes were bloodshot, his skin palid and the color of freshly fallen snow, his body heaving and shuddering as he stood on his knees. He planted his hands on the ground, ands he slowly rose up, wobbling and threatening to tumble over at any moment, but somehow managing to keep himself upright.

Ventus then stared at the Chandelure.

Stared at the creature that forced it to experience things he surpressed deep within himself, dealt with and forgotten.

Haneal was right by his side, looking at him with simple but plain and unbiased concern for their master. She knew what happened to him was bad, but to this extent.....it frightened her.

Ventus stared at the Chandelure.

He stared at it for a long time.

Until he recalled Hanael and summoned his other sister Apsis by his side, who immediately reacted with abject worry and deep concern at his wretched condition, until he pointed and directing her attention straight at the Ghost Pokémon, and said:

"They have tortured me, Apsis. Severely so."

If you needed a Will roll to catch it, you'll definitely need one to kill it. It'll be at a -2 penalty from Memento, giving you one dice.

(3)

Ventus tries to hiss out an order, but cannot find his voice. He can barely lift a finger to even point at Chandelure. By the time he recovers his will, Chandelure has faded away into the ground.

Ralts can still feel Ventus' hopelessness, but it's probably not as bad as the death of a Pokemon.

That means Shiva did not hear "Enough!" either.

However, so weak was he from that wretch, foul Chandelure's attack that he could only barely whisper it out, earning him a confused and even more worried stare from his poisonous python. What does he want them to do with that Ghost? Status it, eat it, kill it? More importantly, what happened to him........?

Ventus cursed his blasted weakness inflicted upon him by that FIEND, and he furiously tried to muster his Will to fight against the Hopelessness it instill within him, to fully crawl out of and emerge from the darkness it forced upon him by breaking him to pieces, pouring kerosene on them, and setting it ablaze.........!

But by the time he fully regain his Will to condemn that ghostly terror, it was gone.

For a moment, the empath just blankly stared at the spot its unconscious form once occupied, disbelief, surprise, and something else coursing through him. A mysterious feeling he initially couldn't place at first, but as it grew and grew within him he slowly realized what it was.

Something dark, yet incandescent.

Something cold, yet scalding hot.

Something serene, yet maddening.

Something almost blinding, yet crystal clear.

What was it?

Rage.

Pure, undiluted, unfettered RAGE.

A RAGE so deep and profain, it was unfathomable.

Now that its existence was acknowledge by its font, it began to gush out of him, coursing through every fiber and minutia of his being before it radiated off him and into his surrounding, for his RAGE was so great it could not be merely contained by him without causing him to explode.

What was the most frightening part, though, was how normal Ventus appeared despite his WRATH. Body posture was calm and control, his breathing was even and steady, and his facial expression was pure neutrality at its finest. However, one thing was different, one thing severely affected by his RAGE....

His eyes.

Dangerous, disasterous, dead, and deadly.

Darkened by his barely restrained yet still concentrated WRATH, shaded with the misery and despair that still lingers within.

All because of IT. 

When the waves of his RAGE hit Apsis, her eyes widened as she reared herself back and away from her master, equal parts shocked and terrorfied by the....the.....Hatred that was roiling off him like steam from a boil. She also got a good look of his Eyes, and had to immediately wretch them away from the crushing, suffocating sensation she experience for that brief instance. Yeap, something was DEFINATELY wrong her master if he could go from almost debiliatating hopelessness to debilitating rage in what seemed to be angstromseconds , and with this change so closely coinciding with that Ghost's disaperance, she was finally able to put the pieces together.

That Chandelure hurt her master.

Made him weak and hopeless.

Causing him pain and anguish so great, he was crippled by it until now.

And now his tormentor, his torturer was gone.

Like a switch had been flipped, the regal snake went from fearfully concerned to near venom spitting furious igdignation , not quite mirroring her master's RAGE against Chandelure (For that was an impossible effort, no matter how mad she was). That Ghost......THAT GHOST........ When she gets her jaws on it, she will not hesitate to KILL IT FOR WHAT IT DONE!!! NOT CONSUME, NOT TORMENT, KILL IT! IT DESERVES NO LESS, AND FAR MORE!!!

Sadly, neither hers or her master's rage would amount to anything.

With it gone for the time being, their was naught Ventus or his sister could do to avenge themselves of this travesty, this abominable crime.

Nothing at all.

"........  May RESHIRIM give me the strength to oppose my enemy,  let me have vengeance upon it. When I face them, let him be destroyed, its prayers  for salvation and mercy be ignored, and condemn it to fate most deserving. for its crimes"

Ventus said this in a deep, low and hateful voice, his pure loathing of the creature palatable.

"May their days be few;  may their flames flicker out forever. May their children be without sire, their mate a widow, theirselves completely without. May his children be enslaved; may they be driven from their ruined homes, and know pain unfathomable."

On and on he went, putting every ounce of RAGE, FURY, and WRATH into his words as he channeled it and his faith to lay a curse upon the Chandelure in the name of his god.

"May the strong seize all they have; may strangers prey on him like vultrues. May no one extend kindness to them, or take pity on their sireless children. May their descendants be cut off,  they lineage blotted out from the next generation, cast into the abyss of time and forever be naught."

"May the iniquity of their sire be remembered before RESHIRIM;  may the sin of their sire never be blotted out. May their sins always remain before RESHIRIM, that they may blot out their name from the earth, and purify their unholy soul with the flames of Truth, scouring their wretched existence."

"Hear me Chandelure, for I condemn you in the name of my LORD, and by their guidance and their power, I will return. I will Kill you. And Their will be no mercy or forgiveness from what you done, except you being extinguished by my hands. This I promise to you, for it is the Truth."

A murderous, hate filled silence descended upon the camber as the empath finishing his Curse, his Promise onto the abominable spirit, with his snake sis giving a angry *Hisssssss* of agreement with their plan. He stared at the spot it once was at for awhile longer, before he let out a angry *Sigh*, his RAGE now dwindled to far more manageable and safer levels, yet never abscene or less absolute, and pulled out an incense, lite it up, and jammed it into his mouth.

"My sister, let us depart now. There will be a reconning for Chandelure, but for now we return to the group, and bide our time. One day......"

Ventus then turned around and march right out of the room with Apsis, leaning on her for support all the while, and never sparing a backwards glance towards the Candelabra.

Yet it and its inhabitant were certainly going to be on his mind for ages to come.

Order: Have Ventus experience the full brunt of his deep seated, ruinous, twisted, dark emotions/doubts/thoughts/temptations as Memento tears his iron grip control over himself to pieces, recovers, then has Apsis completely murder and destroy Chandelure, before the head back to the group. If you wanted to see what Ven's like when he isn't managing his emotions and thoughts 24/7 and has the equivalent of a near Witch Out Event (Reference to Madoka Magicka) due his darker side being triggered HARD......well, here you go.

[Dragonstrike]

I don't know exactly how much farther along Nathan is or how good the acoustics in the cave might be, so whether Nathan heard all that is debatable...

...but I think it's reasonable that he definitely FELT that, given how powerful those emotions were and how closely bonded he is with Ralts...

...and the sudden force of it floors him and Ralts. Nathan has to lean against the wall to avoid falling over. Ralts trips and hits the ground.

...Nathan finds himself hugging Ralts close mere moments later, bracing themselves for the next wave of powerful, anguished, wrathful emotions...

"...Valder...stay close...please..."

...it comes out as a desperate plea. Nathan and Ralts need a moment to recover...

...he doesn't know what caused that...and he's not sure he wants to...because right now, he's fearing for both his safety and the safety of his pokemon (particularly Ralts)...

Congrats, Ventus. You managed to break Nathan's good mood into smithereens, however indirectly...

[Nylon]

Valder doesn't pick that up (whatever it is that Nathan's feeling), but he looks around, adept to anything that lurks to make sure there's nothing around.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

"Let us go, sister. We need not fall behind the others, and worry them unnecessarily. Stay close now."

Ventus and Apsis then departed from the Candelabra, him leaning on her as they went, not once sparing it a backwards glance. He also pulled out an incense on the way and lite it up, puffing on it to try and soothe his weaken, tarnished soul.

Shiva didn't make it to run off as far away she may have enjoyed or as her cowardly side was telling her to do, as that Evolutionary Item has stopped her midway, catching her attention and stopping her on the trail to get back to the others of the group. For some moments of joy over having found such an Item, she got distracted as she examinated it and eventually packed it away. (Uhm, yes, this very general, I may edit this later once GM revealed what I have found here [so curious now!]) For these few moments, she has forgotten that there was a Chandelure lurking nearby, a wild one, illuminating the chamber together with the lavender flames of the Candelabra in an way more eerie bluish light than her small Litwick ever could.

Running away from it was no option anymore, that Ghost Type would not only be faster, but walls may not be too much of an obstacle for it and a prey that fled may allure it even more. Plus, Shiva had enough of that running-away from danger, from that Pineco-Encounter she learned that she CAN get stuff done... Eventually, seeking cover behind some rocks, waiting for Ven to return to continue the rest of the path together and all the time looking out for the Chandelure being nearby seemed like a good decision. Lilith got recalled into her painted Premierball all Shiva didn't want her to encounter this ghost, same with freshly-evolved Silverbolt, in return Marill got summoned to her and hugged closely and tightly for comfort and to have a Water Attack ready to be used right away shall it be necessary. Blue mouse returned the sentiment and seemed all willing to protect her sweet Master, Yena would be out as well now would Shiva have him on hand and with her now.

The two just waited like that for a while. Only concentrating on their breath, waiting for any signs, waiting for a felt entirety...


...Eventually, after quite a while, a faint scent of lavender incense caused her to perk up. Why, within a mountain... It could only mean one thing, so relieved but still somewhat carefully - you never know for sure - she left her hide-out, still hugging Marill hard and Marill hugging her hard, and what she and her lingering hopes were assuming turned out to be very true - Ventus returned. It was indeed him, whoelse would smole incense sticks wearing green tweed sweaters and keeping an Arbok that safe... None she knew of.

Though from the way he looked - somewhat...weary, his walk was 'heavier', was something burdening him..? - and how she knew the only smoked lavender incense when he need/wants to calm himself or recover from something, she cottoned on that dealing with the Chandelure has affected him in some way.

She knew Apsis would hiss at her shall Shiva approach the cobra's Master and family member. She very well knew, she knew very well knew that Apsis doesn't enjoy this young woman too close to him, but she also knew that Ventus himself would never allow her to harm his dear... There's always a small risk despite how well Ven has her under control, but maybe - probably - her fear of Apsis made this risk bigger than it was in the first place... Not that Shiva cares right now. If it means that she can comfort Ven and simply being there for him if he allows and accepts her company now, that's a risk she very well takes upon.

Though she holds back with her care to not put Apsis on edge as well as not scare Marill too much than necessary, so as soon as Ventus was within reach, Shiva stepped by his side and gave his hand a stroke with one of her own as well as a trademark coy smile from the side before she opted to muster the path ahead, smile somewhat fading as she did so. Now that she was close to Ventus, the impression that he had some reason to calm himself/cope with things via smoking incense intensified, but she had no idea what happened and she won't ever find out. After a few moments of silence between them both, it was Shiva who spoke up first, in a tone that was careful, caring and quiet. She's not angry, not sad, just a still a tad bit fearful/shy and now concerned for Ven's wellbeing and state. "It's good to see you again... You..... well, have dealt with that Chandelure, have you? You have... I don't want to know how and what, *she slightly shaked her head at that to show she really doesn't* it's enough to know that you did. You have, did you? ...Thank you. Reshiram knows how many spirits of innocent visitors it already burnt, I'd take on it by myself and caught it for safe containment and later giving away but you were faster and I...welll.... How do you feel now, you're okay?"

It doesn't really matter what Ventus did or did not. Despite everything, it's still him, it's still that oddball of researcher she was sharing a close bond with.

[Iron]

If you needed a Will roll to catch it, you'll definitely need one to kill it. It'll be at a -2 penalty from Memento, giving you one dice.

(3)

Ventus tries to hiss out an order, but cannot find his voice. He can barely lift a finger to even point at Chandelure. By the time he recovers his will, Chandelure has faded away into the ground.

Ralts can still feel Ventus' hopelessness, but it's probably not as bad as the death of a Pokemon.

That means Shiva did not hear "Enough!" either.

[Iron]

As Shiva is on her way back, she feels a tangible glimmer of hope amid her worries. It almost stands out in her vision, inside the wall of the cave. So she veers aside and picks away at a stone in the wall. When it comes free, a gentle light plays through it, orange and pale blue and shining gold. Her best guess? A Dawn stone.

[Dragonstrike]

Several minutes pass for Nathan and Ralts...

...that second wave of intense emotion they were bracing for never comes...

...

...slowly, they start to calm down...

...

...Nathan's still incredibly spooked, though...and definitely still somewhat afraid.

"...we should wait here for the others, Valder...nobody travels alone until we're all back on Route 05...we're too close to the Skull Ruins...Starmie, turn up the brightness a little...I don't want anything to sneak up on us by taking advantage of the shadows..."

Whenever Ventus, Shiva, and Heart catch up, they'll find Nathan genuinely afraid, a very rare thing for him.  Of what, he won't say...he'll just be insisting that everyone gets a move on and they get back to Route 05 immediately...

[Iron]

Route 05 Encounters

1. Name: Useful Item
Cap: 1
Bid start: 2

2. Name: Held Item
Cap: 1
Bid start: 1

3. Name: Furret x3
Cap: 3
Bid start: 1
Note: Illegal to harm a Sentret/Furret in Mt Sentry. Furret like to carry items.

4. Name: Unusual Pokemon
Cap: 1 (2)
Bid start: 2
Challenge: Moderate
Note: Rare rare rare!

Unlimited: Sentret, Patrat

[Spiritmon]

As Heart is passing the tunnel to the Gem Mine, he spots a glittering piece of red! Since his mind is already on gems, and even red gems, he immediately investigates.

Yep, it turns out to be an uncut garnet! It's rather small, and not the most valuable gem, but it is worth more because it has SABLEYE bite marks in it!

In its current form you could sell it for $3900. With 5 ranks in craft, you could triple that by cutting it nicely in such a way that will show off the bite marks.

Dollar signs appear from Heart eyes when thinking about the money he will get with this thing. "Yahooo! I hit a jackpot baby! Cant wait to tell the others! Hmm I must remind to find a jewel person to craft this thing to make a lot better." Heart then put the garnet in his bag. Then he Viktor who was out of the pokeball tremble a bit. "Hm? Whats wrong Viktor? Is something wrong?" Then Viktor begin to feel negative things in some place in the cave. Almost...as a ghost dying. Viktor then run in the direction of Heart, and hugging him trying to find comfort. Heart dont know, but Viktor was feeling a great darkness somewere in the cave. "Hey Viktor, dont be scare. I here little one...I here." Heart begin to suspect something might happen. Still with Viktor in his arms he decided to find the others...