[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

(Since none of these Encounters interest me, I still would like to have Ventus and his Rock Smash Pokémon with their Buffs (Nasty Plot for Raphael, repeated uses of Mind Reader for Michael) mine SMC Ore from the cavern. Given that, could that be rolled out real quickly Iron, as my choice of Encounter does not impact or interfere with the choices of others, save if they want to do a bit of mining themselves [Which also shouldn't interfere unless they what to help Ven work, or something]?)

[Iron]

Mind Reader normally doesn't work at all on nonliving things, though perhaps Ventus' intuition is telling him something here: the cavern is almost alive, like a Porygon or Magnemite. The superconductor veins tracing their way through it create a random, purposeless computer-analogue. When MS is organized properly it can create amazing things like Pokeballs which digitize and compress living energy, Bill's PC which can work across amazing distances at nigh-unlimited capacity, and the Pokedex which makes a laptop look like an abacus!

Nasty Plot mostly just makes Raphael's Rock Smash's faster, maybe a little more efficient as he plans where to dig next.

3 Survival +1 Bonuses

(4)(4)(5)(3)

Ventus finds $600 worth of MS in a couple hours. He also obtains some ore which would need to be smelted. It's really heavy though.

[Dragonstrike]

7. Name: Tandor Pokemon*
Challenge: ??
Cap: 1 (2)
Bid start: 2
Notes: Gives you a weird uncomfortable feeling just to get close

Nathan and Kirlia are meditating on various things.

Nathan's rather...unsettled.  Conflicted.  Trying to calm down.  Seeing such a large and likely happy family of dark foxes...it hurt a little to see that, for varying reasons.

Well, at least Kirlia's there for him.  That helps a lot.  He's not alone.

Kirlia's still focusing on the surroundings for the most part, but less so since Nathan's there.

They just sit there.  Thinking.

...but then they both feel something...odd.

Something's there.

Immediately, Nathan starts looking around, trying to figure out what it is that's making him (and Kirlia?) feel so...uncomfortable. It's...very different from what he was feeling himself...this is more of an...external cause rather than an internal one...

[Spiritmon]

Spoiler

5. Name: Solosis x3
Challenge: Pretty easy
Cap: 3
Bid start: 1
Notes: Scattered throughout the Long Grass, but within range of each other

When Heart was doing his poker with Rose, he begin to notice something strange. "Rose, return to the pokeball for now...I have to take a look in something." Returning Rose, Heart begin to take a look in something strange. A group of strange Solosis...considerely the Scimitars is using Solosis to scan the area, Heart decided to see if those Solosis have any kind of machine in their heads. Using all of his stealth skills, Heart fade in the shadows, trying to see if those Solosis have any kind of machine.

Mechanic: Dex+Survival+Stealth to hide in the shadows and not be detected by those Solosis, and Insight+Knowledge+Alert to see any kind of strange machine like the one Nathan have found.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

1. Name: Nuzleaf
Challenge: extremely easy
Cap: 1 (2)
Bid start: 1

Shiva is still cutting and packing away *Tall Grass into the wooden crate to accompany Cottonee's fluff, means that Nuzleaf may notice her before she does, Yena and Dizzy will alert her of another Dark Type by low growling in its direction. As soon AS she does spot that Nuzleaf however, she's highly on guard: Is it one of the mischievous ones who enjoy catching humans in traps, or a 'normal' one? This will have a huge impact how Shiva will interact with it.

Despite she may look malicious with a batch of grass in one hand and a raised kitchen knife in the other (used it for cutting the grass off ground), she's not up for a battle.

[Iron]

The source of the strange feeling turns out to be pretty strange itself. It looks like nothing more than a Substitute attack, chained to what appears to be a Pokeball. It's clearly a Pokemon, and in contrast to the Dark type Zoroark earlier, Kirlia looks on it with interest. The unusual Pokemon is just wandering through the grass, pulling the ball along as though it weighs nothing, quite unconcernedly. It's a contrast to the dire appearance of the Pokemon. There's something birdlike about its movements, stretching its head forward briefly first, and looking down on things with one eye at a time.

The aura coming from it is not one of doom and despair, as you might expect from its form. Kirlia is picking up hints of mischief and lots and lots of shyness.

[Iron]

1. Name: Nuzleaf
Challenge: extremely easy
Cap: 1 (2)
Bid start: 1

Shiva is still cutting and packing away *Tall Grass into the wooden crate to accompany Cottonee's fluff, means that Nuzleaf may notice her before she does, Yena and Dizzy will alert her of another Dark Type by low growling in its direction. As soon AS she does spot that Nuzleaf however, she's highly on guard: Is it one of the mischievous ones who enjoy catching humans in traps, or a 'normal' one? This will have a huge impact how Shiva will interact with it.

Despite she may look malicious with a batch of grass in one hand and a raised kitchen knife in the other (used it for cutting the grass off ground), she's not up for a battle.

It does have a Gracidea flower petal in its 'hair.' It seems to be alone, though, and it's acting almost timid because of that. It drags an entire chunk of Long Grass out of the ground, roots and all, and offers it to her.

[Iron]

3 Dex +3 survival + 3 Stealth = 9d6 (this is the calculation you should post, including numbers for me)
(5)(4)(1)(4)(5)(6) (5)(2)(2) Nailed it. Heart creeps up on the Solosis' broad nest without being detected.

3 Insight + 3 Survival + 2 alert = 8d6
(2)(4)(1)(3)(1)(6)(5)(3)

These Solosis look normal, no machines. They can adapt to live in any environment, and these have adapted to the darkness with tiny little electrosignal lights racing along their organelles. The family looks quite at home here. It's possible the Scimitars may have found Solosis underground in their previous explorations in search of the Atheneum.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Humm... At first, Shiva is rather sceptical and just frowns massively while starring (non-intimidatingly) down at that Nuzleaf. It DOES seem to be one of these nasty ones that trapped her on the upper level of Mount Sentry and then trapped Heart in a lower level, but suprisingly she does not pick up anything ill from this particular one. Lucky one, it made the right decision.

She decides to give it a chance. That Gracidea petal is what she desires... But she's having so many questions to this Nuzleaf, and this might be a unique opportunity.

A slight hand gesture and Yena goes back to being a good boy, he retreats into the darkness. Carefully and not yet fully convinced, she knees down to be more on eye level with that Nuzleaf, and simply looks at it for a little before she carefully accepts the chunk of grass from its hands, cuts off the roots, and packs it AND the knife away for now. More starring before Shiva speaks up to it, all calmy but cautionous between the lines. "Thanks for the offer... You know, I've met and heard of others of your kind that are way less friendly. WAY. I won't attack you unless you'll give me reason to, alright? No, I....only wish to talk. About things. Up for it?"

[Dragonstrike]

The source of the strange feeling turns out to be pretty strange itself. It looks like nothing more than a Substitute attack, chained to what appears to be a Pokeball. It's clearly a Pokemon, and in contrast to the Dark type Zoroark earlier, Kirlia looks on it with interest. The unusual Pokemon is just wandering through the grass, pulling the ball along as though it weighs nothing, quite unconcernedly. It's a contrast to the dire appearance of the Pokemon. There's something birdlike about its movements, stretching its head forward briefly first, and looking down on things with one eye at a time.

The aura coming from it is not one of doom and despair, as you might expect from its form. Kirlia is picking up hints of mischief and lots and lots of shyness.

Nathan has not heard much about this particular species of pokemon (it takes him a moment to process that this thing is indeed a pokemon since it looks so...strange).  He has heard rumours that pokemon that perished in their pokeballs sometimes come back as something else...but the details were always vague.  Never specific.

Nobody in Tandor wants to talk about Linkite and Chainite.  The implications of their existence alone are a terrifying thought by themselves, a creepy horror story that's akin to Banette's.

...so when Nathan sees this chained Substitute Doll that's acting a bit like a bird, he doesn't immediately connect it with those rumours.  In addition to being slightly unnerved, he does feel a little...sad?  He's not sure why, exactly.  Maybe it's because of the chain connected to what appears to be a pokeball of some kind?  The pokemon doesn't seem to be trapped or burdened, though...

...given the appearance...maybe it's a Ghost?  Doesn't seem malicious, though, thankfully...the shyness and bird-like movements are definitely adding to the confusion.

Consider Nathan's curiosity piqued.  When the strange pokemon's gaze meets Nathan's, he gives it a friendly wave.  Scatters some cheap bird seed he got for Masq awhile back, then backs off a little from the food to give the shy pokemon a little space.  It doesn't look like a bird...but maybe it likes bird seed anyways since it's acting a lot like one?

Catch its attention, be friendly, learn a little more about it...hopefully the open kindness helps overcome those shy tendencies a little.