[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

Cosh: "We've been keeping an eye on the Kadabra Chamber since the very beginning. Follow me!"

"OK, here's the situation. The best entrance is right over there, beneath the biggest Barrow around. Won't be too many ghosts around in daylight, and the five of us can banish any that do crop up. You'll need Rock Smash or Cut or something to get inside - there are many doors in the Barrow, all locked and warded. If we pick our way through the Barrow Downs, knock down at least one door, jet inside through the maze of tunnels... we'll be ready for the Kadabra Chambers. Sonar reveals a big chamber right beneath that Barrow, full of some crystalline substance and itself networked with tunnels. The Kadabra Chambers are sort of transitional between the Barrow Down layer and the Upper Palace ruins layer."


You're all going to pick your way through the old graves, mass burial sites, uprooted artifacts, and earthen tombs. You aren't sure which paths lead onward safely.

Everyone is required to pick exactly one Encounter to solve with your Scimitar partner. No overlap or sharing - they all have a Cap of 1. Scimitars may want to make a capture, in which case we'll have to work that out somehow (not traditional XP bidding as the Scims don't have full char sheets).

This will count as Encounter 2 for the day.

You can tell me how you begin to address the problem as soon as you choose the Encounter, then you can react as I reveal more info.

Skull Ruins Barrow Downs Encounter List

(...)

3. Name: Shallow Ground
This area is littered with old armor and weapons. There are a few old marble coffins sticking up, and some suspicious looking dirt with bloodstains everywhere.

(...)

Presumably Cosh shook his hand and sealed the deal, so Terra is fine with following the head wizard's lead, keeping a close but silent eye on him the whole time. Though they were now allies and promised to set aside their differences for the shake of saving Cheshire, it didn't hurt to be on guard and watchful whenever it was feasible to do so. After all, their partnership hardly entailed mutual trust between them, and he had strong doubts much positivity will be engendered between them. 

He's not entirely ruling it out, though. More impossible things had happened before to him/the group, so true friendship with some of their defacto enemies is not totally out of question....

The Scimitar Admin's intel and advice is taken in with quick nods from the sagely monk, and in turn he offered a few short comments of his own.

"Okay. Getting through doors won't be problem for us, and together we will get through the Ruin quickly and safely, so do not worry.......too much."

When it came time to choose a path for him and his partner, he elected they investigate the Shallow Ground, recalling Edmundi (Pixie still being out, minding her own business.....seemingly) and summoning Oinari to his side, and pointed to the messy, rusting, and decaying remains. 

"Oinario, change form into a Duskull, and scout out area for danger, stuff, or path forward. Come back if you find any. Find threats, yip to me. Find Items, hop, and shuffle paws for path. If you are caught or ambushed, run back and call out to us. Understand?"

Order: Have the trickster kitsune go undercover and investigate the Shallow Ground for danger/loot/paths, before Terra/Cosh go forward to actually search the place themselves. Can't be too careful in the Skull Ruins, so its time for some tactical espionage action with Grey Black Fox!

[Mikaruge108]

2. Name: Stone Circle
There's a circle of upthrust stonework from long ago, and you spot flickering movement there. The circle is guarding one of the possible paths to the Great Barrow guarding the Chambers.

As Spira enters the dank, dark ruins, with Elya in tow, he eventually sees a stone circle, the first thing that he notices is the flickering movement near them; "Huh." Spira walks up to the upthrust stonework and places a hand on it, then raps at the rock with his fist *tap* *tap-tap* *tap* *tap* *tap-tap*, then addresses Elya; "Do you think your phasing can get us though this circle?" (assuming ooc that the circle is a solid 'line' and not broken)

[Iron]

Before they eventually make their way into these ominous Ruins, Shiva takes a moment to page through her notebook to make a mental note: 'The first of these ancient Artifacts is said to be directly below the Barrow Downs and stolen and hidden by ghosts' - and to summon her anti-ghost-doggo from his Ball. She affectionately tousles through her good boi's black neck fur, rearranges her comfy Ranger Cloak and finally ... takes the first step alongside the others. She's hoping - nope, BELIEVING - that this isn't the first step into doom but rather into glory and salvation.

Maybe it's obvious, maybe not, but Shiva would really really wish to become a wielder of one of these Artifacts.

She keeps herself close to Arachna - just in case, and she lets Yena pick up and remember her scent if too much heavy perfume doesn't disguise it. It relieves Shiva that at the current time of day there are less ghosts lurking around and that the Scims will take care of them, this encourages her to wander a bit further away from Spira. Not too far away though, still close enough that she'll sense or hear any call for help with a potential ill-natured Spiritomb.
EDIT: Oh no, wait, can't help in this scenario due to Cap.1. Sorry!


Just as she was letting her gaze wander - she's pretty adamant about not starring for too long at any tombs, they're creepy - some skittering noise makes her fastly turn into it's direction.

4. Name: Daaarkness
A fairly nice straightforward path suddenly reaches a pair of stone pillars with a missing top, like an old archway. In line with the pillars, and everywhere beyond, it is just pitch black. Lots of skittering noises in there.

She shivers over that uncommonly dark blackness, something must be...devouring any light within and beyond these pillars. That 'something' catches her attention and interrest, though she's very unsure why. "Hey, Yena.... Arachna..." she'll adress her butterwolfy and edgy partner before approaching this darkness, "You hear these sounds as well? Yena, can you smell...any Pokemon in that direction?" What feeling does she herself get from the pillars and this darkness?

Yena does smell Pokemon. Multiple corporeal Pokemon, and ghosts.

Shiva can only feel the oppressive corruption of the Barrow Downs. It's everywhere.

[Spiritmon]

Heart load the Miracle Rod to Nathan and go with Atlas towards Golurk statue

[Iron]

Spoiler

Cosh: "We've been keeping an eye on the Kadabra Chamber since the very beginning. Follow me!"

"OK, here's the situation. The best entrance is right over there, beneath the biggest Barrow around. Won't be too many ghosts around in daylight, and the five of us can banish any that do crop up. You'll need Rock Smash or Cut or something to get inside - there are many doors in the Barrow, all locked and warded. If we pick our way through the Barrow Downs, knock down at least one door, jet inside through the maze of tunnels... we'll be ready for the Kadabra Chambers. Sonar reveals a big chamber right beneath that Barrow, full of some crystalline substance and itself networked with tunnels. The Kadabra Chambers are sort of transitional between the Barrow Down layer and the Upper Palace ruins layer."


You're all going to pick your way through the old graves, mass burial sites, uprooted artifacts, and earthen tombs. You aren't sure which paths lead onward safely.

Everyone is required to pick exactly one Encounter to solve with your Scimitar partner. No overlap or sharing - they all have a Cap of 1. Scimitars may want to make a capture, in which case we'll have to work that out somehow (not traditional XP bidding as the Scims don't have full char sheets).

This will count as Encounter 2 for the day.

You can tell me how you begin to address the problem as soon as you choose the Encounter, then you can react as I reveal more info.

Skull Ruins Barrow Downs Encounter List

5. Name: Stone Puzzle
This path is blocked by a sliding stone puzzle like the ones you found in Mt. Sentry.

The Skull Ruins Barrow Downs: Ancient Barrow - Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon

Nathan pulls out his own map of the old castle, the one that Bill sent him, to compare it to what Cosh is saying about the structure of the place.  Is it going to be the same?  Probably not.  But call Nathan curious at the very least.  Even if the map doesn't end up being very directly useful, seeing the general layout and comparing 'now' to 'before' might be handy.

When Nathan sees one of those Stone Puzzles similar to the ones in Mt. Sentry, his immediate thought is to investigate it.  He walks up with Gallade and Emolga and gives it a good look before touching anything.  Figure out how it works, if it's trapped like the one Shiva solved was, what kind of picture it might depict, asking Gallade if he can sense anything on the other side of it...

Nathan also glances over at Kelda briefly during the process.  "Any good at puzzles, out of curiosity?  Because we're looking at one right now.  Didn't fully expect to see one here, though, if I'm being honest...hmmm..."

Oh, and if Kelda has any questions for Nathan, he probably won't mind answering them.

I didn't even know the word "Barrow" had been used in a Pokemon game.

Nathan's map barely correlates to the Barrow Downs at all, naturally. But you can actually see a few things that are correlated - old rooms that became the boundaries of a section of graveyard.

The Kadabra Chambers, if Cosh is right, would be three old rooms combined: the astronomy tower, the Pokemon training/capturing room, and the conservatory. 


*roll*
The puzzle doesn't look to be trapped. In fact, it's just been drilled into some old pillars, so there's not much chance of a mechanical trigger.
Kelda: "Oh, no, I'm not great at puzzles. But I think this one was brought up here more recently. Our research says many ghosts came up to raid the surface, and brought things from below up with them as pranks or like, decorations almost."

Nathan has probably heard briefly of this event, called the "Spirit Exchange." Little is known about it since no one wants to go near the ruins.

[Iron]

As Terra follows Cosh, you notice the mid-aged wizard walks with all the grace and swishing of robes you'd expect from a wizard. However, he leaves very very deep footprints in the clay.

[Iron]

2. Name: Stone Circle
There's a circle of upthrust stonework from long ago, and you spot flickering movement there. The circle is guarding one of the possible paths to the Great Barrow guarding the Chambers.

As Spira enters the dank, dark ruins, with Elya in tow, he eventually sees a stone circle, the first thing that he notices is the flickering movement near them; "Huh." Spira walks up to the upthrust stonework and places a hand on it, then raps at the rock with his fist *tap* *tap-tap* *tap* *tap* *tap-tap*, then addresses Elya; "Do you think your phasing can get us though this circle?" (assuming ooc that the circle is a solid 'line' and not broken)

I was unclear. The circle is like Stonehenge, so it's as much empty space as it is solid. Spira can sense ghostly energy in the gaps, though!

When you tap on it, it echoes as if hollow. Definitely doesn't look hollow...

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Yena does smell Pokemon. Multiple corporeal Pokemon, and ghosts.

Shiva can only feel the oppressive corruption of the Barrow Downs. It's everywhere.

Do ghosts have a particular scent?? Or are these Ghost-Type'd Pokemon? ?????????

Shiva's pretty much disliking this oppressive feeling, this gloom and this creepy weariness dwelling everywhere. It surpresses her sixth sense and makes cold shivers run down her spine despite she isn't even cold. Here's a nicely paranormal theme to reflect that and for this Encounter.

Humm. She picks up a random rock from the ground, fixates her gaze at this darkness - and then turns her head to face and adress Arachnautilus. "How about it, bold enough to face some creepy Pokemon that made their home within these pillars alongside me? Come on, if you're really that competent, show me some of that strength of yours!~" She smirks to display that SHE is. No time for fear of weakness down this place!! >o<

If Arachna's answer is positive, Shiva will throw that rock into the darkness, believing that this will trigger a fight. STILL she keeps herself away from the heavy blackness - the simple fact that Pokemon lurk there doesn't explain this phenomena, but maybe as soon as it's revealed which Pokemon she has stumbled over she'll know more.

[Lord Windos]

As Terra follows Cosh, you notice the mid-aged wizard walks with all the grace and swishing of robes you'd expect from a wizard. However, he leaves very very deep footprints in the clay.

The steely brawler was, despite his own reservatiosn for his arcane partner, was naturally curious about him literally leaving his mark in his place just like him (As you pointed back so far ago, Terra's *6 VIT and Steel Nature makes him heavier too), and so inquires about it in a questioning, interested tone.

"Your tracks are deep, Cosh. Why? Wearing heavy.....equipment, or......something else?"

[Spiritmon]

Cosh: "We've been keeping an eye on the Kadabra Chamber since the very beginning. Follow me!"

"OK, here's the situation. The best entrance is right over there, beneath the biggest Barrow around. Won't be too many ghosts around in daylight, and the five of us can banish any that do crop up. You'll need Rock Smash or Cut or something to get inside - there are many doors in the Barrow, all locked and warded. If we pick our way through the Barrow Downs, knock down at least one door, jet inside through the maze of tunnels... we'll be ready for the Kadabra Chambers. Sonar reveals a big chamber right beneath that Barrow, full of some crystalline substance and itself networked with tunnels. The Kadabra Chambers are sort of transitional between the Barrow Down layer and the Upper Palace ruins layer."


You're all going to pick your way through the old graves, mass burial sites, uprooted artifacts, and earthen tombs. You aren't sure which paths lead onward safely.

Everyone is required to pick exactly one Encounter to solve with your Scimitar partner. No overlap or sharing - they all have a Cap of 1. Scimitars may want to make a capture, in which case we'll have to work that out somehow (not traditional XP bidding as the Scims don't have full char sheets).

This will count as Encounter 2 for the day.

You can tell me how you begin to address the problem as soon as you choose the Encounter, then you can react as I reveal more info.

Skull Ruins Barrow Downs Encounter List

1. Name: Treasure Tomb
You see the glitter of metal inside one of the tombs. Looks like you could crawl through a hole in the side and investigate.

2. Name: Stone Circle
There's a circle of upthrust stonework from long ago, and you spot flickering movement there. The circle is guarding one of the possible paths to the Great Barrow guarding the Chambers.

3. Name: Shallow Ground
This area is littered with old armor and weapons. There are a few old marble coffins sticking up, and some suspicious looking dirt with bloodstains everywhere.

4. Name: Daaarkness
A fairly nice straightforward path suddenly reaches a pair of stone pillars with a missing top, like an old archway. In line with the pillars, and everywhere beyond, it is just pitch black. Lots of skittering noises in there.

5. Name: Stone Puzzle
This path is blocked by a sliding stone puzzle like the ones you found in Mt. Sentry.

6. Name: Golurk Statue
The path runs right between Golurk's legs, and its eyes occasionally flash menacingly. However, it's a greyish orange color, the color of dirt, and it doesn't move. So it must be a statue and not a Pokemon, right?

Choice 6. Heart have both Atlas and Doublade with him. And I suppose Gendry come along.