[Meta thread] Iron's PokeRole Adventure: The Skull Ruins

[Dragonstrike]

So what's next?

Make a camp, rest, and build some guard and sentinel to protect against possible ghosts?

There's nowhere safe to camp.  If we try, the odds that we'll be bothered frequently by Ghosts/Kadabra/whatever are high.

We cannot assume it is safe to rest in the Skull Ruins unless Iron says so or we are able to thoroughly ensure we are.

The only safe way we can rest at the immediate moment is by leaving the Barrow Downs entirely, essentially resetting a lot of what we have done so far.

We're also on a time limit. Backtracking might not be the best idea.

So my vote is that we keep exploring the KC. There should be a safe(ish) spot to rest at eventually once we're past it.

[Mikaruge108]

Another vote to continue exploring KC to (hopefully) find a safe spot to rest here.
Also icon change, yay.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

So what's next?

I know what I want Shiva to do: Collect all her stuff, leave her Baashaun Boots with Nathan, take a short-range communicator from Cosh if she still got some and make haste to get where Terra is currently dwelling to stay there and with him until we can continue venturing down the Ruins. From what I understand, exploring the Kadabra Chambers is optimal to find and collect Nathan's dad but not outright mandatory to find the first Ancient Artifact (correct me if I'm wrong on that, Iron). In-chara Shiva would want to ration her stamina and concentrate on that task; outta-chara same reason plus I'm having a feeling a certainty that before we'll be able to make camp and catch some sleep, there'll be at least another Encounter which will be taken under a -1 Pain on everything. This makes me want to not engage in any further battle against more Kadabra which are sure to be found in the other Chambers if I can prevent it, and instead save my energy.

She'll explain just that, excuse herself, leave Raphael there as a calming presence while the others are deciding what to do (he is asked to NOT follow them into other Chambers and instead return when they go further as she shall NOT fight without Shiva) and meet up with Terra, to whom she too will explain that she feels like there'll be more threats further down the way and that she needs some breather for now. And that she's confident that they'll find out more about Marco's whereabout without her as well, especially with the Scims even aiding.

Ah, and Shiva promised to be highly on guard towards these arcane/fae forces a pact can be made with somewhere within the Chambers, knowing that she's susceptile towards such a thing she rather doesn't want to risk anything, especially after she made it crystal-clear to Ventus that she will survive and return from the Ruins.

This is not abandoning the others , this is raising the odds to not have my chara have a very rough and hard time right at the beginning of this quest.


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Before that though, Shiva would want to try nudging the humanoid Kadabra with hat with a Steel Ball when he isn't looking, just to see what happens.

[Dragonstrike]

Remember when Iron said he wasn't going to adjust the difficulty at all if we split the party back at the Water Scimitar base in Wineberry?

I'm about 99.9% certain the same thing applies in the Skull Ruins.

By design, this is not going to be an easy dungeon.  Splitting the party will only make it harder to get through.

[Dragonstrike]

Look, I've got a serious question for everyone.

How much do you REALLY care for Nathan's goals?  Is it really just me who wants to really see this through for the sake of achieving a goal my character has had for the entire campaign?  Because that's what it feels like right now, if I'm being honest.

Nathan can't do this alone, guys.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

@Iron, do me and Terra have to traverse the whole and all Kadabra Chambers in order to progress to beneath the Barrow Downs, where the first Artifact is said to be hidden away? I understand from your wording and what Cosh said that we don't and can progress from where we've just fought some Kadabra, is that correct?

Nathan, you aren't alone.

[Iron]

Adding Marco to your party won't alter the difficulty level either, so that's something to consider.

There are multiple tunnels known by Cosh to head downward to the Artifacts, but he won't be amenable to splitting the party below.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Your last point's reasonable and I agree with that, yes. If I'm being honest, it itches me quite a lot to see what's causing that sound of flapping wings in that room behind the hinged metal door, but my intuition is saying 'do not go there'.

Is Shiva a bad person for wanting to concentrate her energy on the finding of the Artifacts for the sake of saving the region she wants to settle down in and becoming the hero she strives to be in order to overcome her feelings of being overshadowed by others, despite she feels compassion for Nathan's goal as her own father is one of her role models? Please tell me she isn't.

[Dragonstrike]

I wouldn't say anyone in our group (just talking about the actual pokemon trainers atm) is a bad person.

I am wondering though why half the group doesn't seem to want to fully commit to helping Nathan with one of his biggest and most important goals for his entire journey right before the most important part of achieving said goal.  We're so close now...if we stop, why did we even go to the Kadabra Chambers in the first place?  What happened to working together as a team and having each others' backs?

Even Cosh thinks that finding Marco and getting his help is a good enough idea to risk going to the KC. Having an ally that's comparable to having an Elite 4 member by your side is not something to overlook, particularly in a place like the Skull Ruins.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

I didn't want to go into the Kadabra Chambers in the first place. There's that saying that speaks about what's very very important for one person, may not be that important or special for a different person and vice versa, as everyone has a different and personal pool of experiences that plays the main role when making deicsions. Please don't take any of my or Terra's actions personally in-chara or at least try to not do that... Instead of discussing about that, going for it and work on achieving that goal with everything you've got would be a better use of time and energy.