[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Arcanine doesn't stand down while Juni is conscious.

Thrawn: "I'm unharmed. Just...very confused? With Arcanine...oh, Arcanine!...I will be alright. Those robed men and women knocked me out and hid me in a room, where I recovered consciousness. Next thing I know, I'm here. That's it. I wasn't interrogated, though I'm sure it was on their agenda."

Aww well, then not. Still, Shiva can't blame the noble fierly canine in the slightest, not after what this blue-haired woman has done towards him, her compassion towards Arcanine is rather strong. To express this, she softly gifts Arcanine a light cuddle before quickly letting go of him. "It's alright, take your time. We're in no hurry."

Towards Detective Thrawn, Shiva feels equally much compassion but her expression also gets serious as she tries to give herself confident and capable. "A room...? Were you able to recognize this room in some way, you're having any idea where this room could have been located at...? Please, anything, any hints or clues might be important."

"Ah.... And..." She grows a bit meek, but quickly conceals that. "It's no wonder you are confused, that's reasonable. Please don't feel bad for that! As long as you'll stick with us at the moment, everything will work out well, I'm having faith in that! >o< Okay with you? Your questions will be answered - which one feels most urgent to you, what would you like to know in the first place? Why we're here, I'm unfortunately just as innocent about like you likely are."

[Iron]

She describes the Lake Chicory base. You need one of several keys: the Burn Drive is one such key. The others are possessed by other Scimitars. There's also an entrance in a secret tunnel beneath the lake, which you haven't heard anything about. It's a very defensive route: there's no locked door, just an underwater cave, but you have to walk down a tunnel filled with observation points where they can easily cut you down on your way.

"The Chill Drive is used in our robot to activate excavation mode. I already told you the Scimitar leadership doesn't live with the rest of us, specifically to keep meddlers like you from reaching them."

"The moving camp can be led by whoever. It doesn't really have any one leader or any set inhabitants. Twenty would be pretty average. It just follows the River wherever we feel like."

"The Cliffside base? I don't know, I'm not an architect. Almanac was going out there to finalize the first stage of plans today, actually."

She just laughs at your attempted justification. "An eye for an eye is your philosophy, and you think that makes you good? Ridiculous. Just as it has been throughout history, people use that to justify whatever they planned to do anyway. I'd love to see your plan to take on any threat like the Scimitars using the power of niceness. Do I blame you for your treatment of me? No. It's the way of the world. You have to be 'mean' to get anywhere, and you're just proving that. And I don't believe in evil."

[Dragonstrike]

He turns his scarred face to you, Shiva, and you see his scar is in the EXACT same place as Dizzy's wound from Nidoqueen. His look says "How can you ask me to stand down after what this woman has done TO ME?"

Nathan turns to his Absol to ask him a quick question.  Maybe it will get the feline to calm down a little more...and given that Calam has 4 Happiness and 5 Loyalty towards Nathan, he should at least listen to what his friend has to say, right?

"...ask yourself this, please, my friend: if you kill her right now out of spite, are you any better than her?  I'm not going to say don't be angry at her, that there isn't any reason to kill her...but I do believe you're better than she is.  Leave her unharmed for now, please.  We'll figure out what to do with her soon.  And trust me when I say we'll see that she suffers the consequences of her actions."

[Iron]

Thrawn: "No, I woke up inside the room, which was nearly bare except for a bucket. No windows. I just want to know how I got here, for starters! How we all got here."

[Iron]

He turns his scarred face to you, Shiva, and you see his scar is in the EXACT same place as Dizzy's wound from Nidoqueen. His look says "How can you ask me to stand down after what this woman has done TO ME?"

Nathan turns to his Absol to ask him a quick question.  Maybe it will get the feline to calm down a little more...and given that Calam has 4 Happiness and 5 Loyalty towards Nathan, he should at least listen to what his friend has to say, right?

"...ask yourself this, please, my friend: if you kill her right now out of spite, are you any better than her?  I'm not going to say don't be angry at her, that there isn't any reason to kill her...but I do believe you're better than she is.  Leave her unharmed for now, please.  We'll figure out what to do with her soon.  And trust me when I say we'll see that she suffers the consequences of her actions."

Fine. 

Calam trusts you, but he'll be holding you to that promise that she suffer consequence.

[Dragonstrike]

Fine. 

Calam trusts you, but he'll be holding you to that promise that she suffer consequence.

Nathan has a small smile on his face for a moment, a stark contrast to the almost perpetual frown he's currently been wearing.  "You can do your part by making sure she can't escape.  And she WILL be suffering consequences for what she did, promise.  We just need to discuss what those consequences will be as a group.  I have a stake in this.  You have a stake in this.  Shiva, Detective Thrawn, and Arcanine all have a stake in this.  Too many people have been harmed or nearly harmed by her to justify letting her go now."

Nathan turns to face Shiva and Terra.  "You can let him go now, you two.  He'll be keeping a close eye on her, nothing more.  For now."  Then Nathan lets go of the Absol.

The relation between trainer and pokemon is all about trust, and there's no better demonstration of that than right now.  For if neither Nathan nor Calam could trust the other, more drastic measures would have to be taken...

[Iron]

Calam sits in front of Nathan, just staring at Juni now. Every once in a while he gets up to refresh the Taunt.

He'll eventually get too tired to keep using that move, so keep that in mind when planning.

[Dragonstrike]

Nathan has a question for Juni that Terra seems to have missed (as far as he knows).

"That 'Threat' you mentioned. Do you know what it is?"

[Iron]

"No, we don't know. We only know that it will be beyond anything currently living in the world. Some say it will come from another dimension, or from space. It will have psychic power to rival Sarimanok's Legendary master - which, of course, no one knows either. We do have researchers and scryers working on identifying the threat."

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

She describes the Lake Chicory base. You need one of several keys: the Burn Drive is one such key. The others are possessed by other Scimitars. There's also an entrance in a secret tunnel beneath the lake, which you haven't heard anything about. It's a very defensive route: there's no locked door, just an underwater cave, but you have to walk down a tunnel filled with observation points where they can easily cut you down on your way.

"The Chill Drive is used in our robot to activate excavation mode. I already told you the Scimitar leadership doesn't live with the rest of us, specifically to keep meddlers like you from reaching them."


"The moving camp can be led by whoever. It doesn't really have any one leader or any set inhabitants. Twenty would be pretty average. It just follows the River wherever we feel like."

"The Cliffside base? I don't know, I'm not an architect. Almanac was going out there to finalize the first stage of plans today, actually."

She just laughs at your attempted justification. "An eye for an eye is your philosophy, and you think that makes you good? Ridiculous. Just as it has been throughout history, people use that to justify whatever they planned to do anyway. I'd love to see your plan to take on any threat like the Scimitars using the power of niceness. Do I blame you for your treatment of me? No. It's the way of the world. You have to be 'mean' to get anywhere, and you're just proving that. And I don't believe in evil."

Terra memorizes every detail concerning the Lack Chicory base, as it was extremely likely the group and/or Cheshire League would be paying it a visit in the future/present era. He doesn't have any clue about the various Drives beyond what Juni has told him, though, so that is a field of questions that I'll leave to Nathan.

"......Where are the Scimitar leadership, then? If you don't know, where can they be found, or how can we track them down? You did not tell me anything else about them either. Or answer my question your 'friends' and your mother. You will talk about them, Juni."

He doesn't really have anything to say about the moving camp or Cliffside Base, as its clear she's told them all about them (or at least the relevant details). Her mocking laughter and derisive rebuke manages to earn her a frown, before he just *Sighs* and shakes his head sadly, as if he pitied her.

".....Do not know what made you.......bitter and scornful, but the world and everyone is better than you think. Kindness, niceness, being good to others, and doing the right thing......that does much more to help and......solve problems that being mean. Doing bad things for......justified reasons, or being harsh and cruel......I can accept that, but only if there are no other choice.  .....You say you have to be mean. To.....get what you want, and accomplish your goals. *Shakes your head* But you are wrong. That is what only what you believe, and choose to do. You and Scimitars could do so much good for everyone, and stop the Threat without.....hiding in shadows and committing crimes. You could help others, help Cheshire , and be heroes, all by being kind and good. *Shakes head* ....But you do not. And that is why we have to Fight you. Why we have to be mean back to you. Because you made your choices long ago, and won't listen or change your ways. You will only keep doing bad things until you all are stopped, so that is what we must do."

His tone of voice at that point did not sound angry or condemning. Just sad and disappointed. Eventually, the sagely monk continues his questioning, his former seriousness fully restored.

".....What can you tell us about the Earth Scimitars? Almanac? Anyone or......thing you Scimitars work with?"

If Calam gets too tired to use Taunt, then Tommy will pick up the slack and start using it in their place until they recover/he tires out himself. If possible, Taunting Juni could be done in shifts, so that neither Tommy nor Calam get too tired of using the Move. If absolutely necessary, Juni can just be KOed until later on when all Pokemon have rested and recovered to keep using Taunt, but that will require a group vote to decide if that is what must be done.