[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

Dark Thing Round 2

(...)

Pixie and Whimsicott also fail in their actions against the target, while the darkness whispers, "FUTILITY!'

Mikey, however, predicted what would happen and transforms his action into an Evasion should he be targeted.

"READY? HERE I COME.... FROM OVER HERE....NO, OVER HERE!"

(...)

Dark Spell 2
(1)(3) You hear Arachnautilus swearing vehemently. "We have to stop it ASAP! Its power is growing!


"YOU DARE???"

(...)

Phantom Force 4 on Rose
(4)(6)(4)(4)(5)(4) (2) Crit
(5)(6)(6)(5)(3)(5) (3)(4)(6) Rose faints. In unconsciousness, her flame burns brightly enough to actually illuminate the scene, and you wish it didn't. Now everyone can see the horrid blackness, the smooth immaculate shell, the glaring eyes, the carpet of spikes, the neurotoxins dripping from a forest of razor sharp teeth.
You can see the beast has grown bigger and stronger, too, though it's moving a bit more slowly. It is also raging, due to a few cracks in its shell where a black gas is leaking out.

(...)

The spiral Shellder appears on the far side of Whimsicott. It shudders once, then vomits up more toxic darkness from its maw. Half-disintegrated portions of its fragile inner surface slide in the slime. The darkness begins slowly fading, revealing first Rose, then the sleeping bodies of the Frillish and Jellicent, then the remnants of Dazzling Gleam. Dark Shellder faints.

Lastly, you see the glass walls revealed, and Posei & Gustav & Co tapping on the glass and pointing excitedly. They're swimming in naturally-dark waters and they couldn't be more delighted to show you what they've found. Unfortunately, it's not visible from the angle within the dark glass spheres.

There's lots of sunken treasure down here, though! In the glass spheres and the tunnels connecting to the sunken ships, you find a medchest containing 5 Revive, 10 Potions, 5 Super Potions, 1 Hyper Potion. There are also thousands and thousands of Pokedollar worth of seaborn treasure, anything that might wash up from the subterranean streams that now feed the Well after the cataclysmic battle. Jewelry, amulets, golden religious symbols, coins, valuable old tools. A set of gold teeth. A golden eye. Archaeological artifacts from every era. Gold, gold, and more gold! But nowhere any sign of a Hauberk.

All the gold together is worth a startling $200,000!

Though the oppressive Darkness constantly tried to crush his Will and prey on his weakness. Terra refused to yield to that abomination again, defiantly crying out against it!

"NO! DARKNESS WILL. BE. UNMADE! GOOD AND LIGHT. WILL. PREVAIL! YOUR DEFEAT NOT FUTILE! IT IS.....INEVITABLE!"

Mikey and Pixie answer in unison with their partner, their own angry, energetic cries rallying behind his own as they re-doubled their efforts to waste that Dark Thing. Both of them ate Dark Types for breakfast and had their own suite of dastardly tricks that could screw anything up to a Legendary Pokemon, so they were NOT afraid of It. No.....it should be afraid of them!! OOOORAAAAH, HEEE HAAA!

Despite the intense clash of heroics vs. Darkness occupying everyone's attention, though, Terra still had enough presence of mind to admonish Arachnautilus for swearing! Seriously.

"Language, Arachnautilus!"

Some of the sagely monk's bravado dried up when he finally got a decent look at the monster that startled him earlier, though decent was the very last thing you'd called its teneborous form. That.....that thing was truly a Demon of Darkness, and it needed to be stopped. Perhaps FOREVER, if necessary....

Fortunately, his fervent desires became reality when that Dark Shellader's life was sapped away by Poison and fell, taking with it the Darkness that tried its best to swallowing him and his friend up, and failed. When he could at last see everyone, the mountain of a man swept shared with them a proud grin, his gaze stressed, strained, but filled to the brim with satisfaction as he nodded.

"We did it. We banished the Dark, and brought back the light. Good job, everyone."

And that, was that!

Spoiler

Seems reasonable!

Pokeball: (6)(1) v (2)

Gotcha! Dark Slowpoke was caught!
After a couple hours in the Pokeball, these will be Slowpoke's stats:
+2 HP surprise
0/0/2
Dark Pulse, Beat Up, Yawn, Curse of either type, Disable, Headbutt, Zen Headbutt, Amnesia, Future Sight, Icy Wind

What's next? Resting? Following Posei & Gustav? Looking for the next layer?

Spoiler

[quote pid='65548' dateline='1563327235']
I up for following Posei and Gustav. Unless everyone wants to rest after such difficulty battle?
[/quote]

Spoiler

"I actually need this the most," Spira picks up the Hyper Potion, "So, if you don't mind..." he adds it to his inventory.

Concerning the gold, is it bullion/something that'd have to be sold for its value, or something that could easily be used in place of pokedollars? If the former, then Spira has no problems with Terra holding on to the gold (provided he mentions IC that he'd be the best choice for selling off that gold), if the latter is the case, then let's go ahead and split that dough up!

Well, not quite. Their was still the matter of what to do about Dark Shellder and its gang, of course, and also with all the treasure + their aquatic brethren's deep water discoveries.

Initially, Terra was going to Capture or kill both Dark Slowpoke and Shelldar, but Shiva forestalled his attempts by asking if she could acquire the later herself, to which he hesitantly and reluctantly agreed to. He didn't like the idea of the mystical lass handling something so blatantly evil and corrupting as that blacker than usual bivalve at all, but he wouldn't deny her the right to do so. She had proven amply that she could survive the worst challenges and endure the harshest happenstances time and time again, so he felt that the fae lady both earned and deserved the right to own such a creature. Besides, they'd be sent to the PC anyway for containment, so it's not like she had to deal with them now, nor couldn't he still help her out with them regardless (if she allowed).

So in the end he only caught Dark Slowpoke, which was promptly sent to the PC for treatment/containment. He already had one atypical sloth to bond with that he liked much more than the other, so away they go! Still.....that Slowpoke......hm...

Concerning the Medical Supplies, he just takes 1 Potion + Revive for himself and leaves the rest to be divvied up by the group, only requesting from the others that 2 Potions, 1 Super Potion, and 1 Revive be given to Nathan later. They needed the supplies as much as anyone else, so he didn't wish to deny them of their bounty even though they didn't contribute to their previous fight and subsequent exploration. He also requests he take all the Valuable Loot so he could sell it later and split the profits with everyone, mentioning that he had experience conducting such large scale transactions and knows how to get the most Poke out of their bounty. He was full on Business Mode as he said this, which Shiva and Spira could easily recall was a rather.....distinctly mercantile and a stark contrast from his simple, stoic, but good hearted nature, so it shouldn't take much to convince them he meant what he said.

Finally, Terra would take out the radio Cosh gave him earlier and get in touch with them if possible, saying thus: "Cosh, Posei, Arete, and Gustav found something that has them excited. Its location.....[Gives a rough description of where he/the group currently was at in the Slowpoke Well Chasms] . Would you meet up with them, and.....find out what it is? Over." They had the ability to breathe/explore underwater, unlike the rest of the group, so he was pretty much the best choice to investigate the group's Water partner's discovery, whether they liked it or not.

Depending on what answer his arcane master of a partner gives (and what comes of their decision) will determine what else he wants to do. Except for this: Terra would give Nathan a full report of what he and the group discovered/Encounter in the Slowpoke Well Chasms ASAP, just to keep them in the loop and updated. Leaving them in the dark about all that would be a terribly unkind thing to do to them, after all!

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Shiva shudders in time with her fluffball when that big dark creature phases through her, and she's very hesitant to pick the Steel Ball containing said creature up. Whimsicott immediately comes to her for comfort once the fight's over, visibly creeped out of the toxic aspect of what appered to a mutated(?) version of a Shellder - this special Pokemon amazes and scares her at the same time to a high degree, and she exactly knows what she'll do with that creature already. For now though it'll be sent to a PC-Box assigned to her, Shiva's positive that this Shellder's poison can't met through the steel of the Steel Ball. She also hopes that it won't do any harm to the poor Nurse Joy receiving and being in charge to patch it up, though her inner tells her that it CAN and WILL: In that case, she hopes the nurse's a talented and skilled one that is used to threat the sounds of dangerous Pokemon.

While the others are collecting and sharing loot, Shiva takes a bit of time to check on that Ratsy within her pocket - are they doing well, did that fierce battle leave any remarks on them? Negatively and positively. She'll react accordingly if anything's wrong.


As for what's coming next, Shiva would have desperately wanted to leave this place at the very first and smallest opportunity and return to the surface, but now that the threat has been dealt with and successfully defused, she suprisingly quickly calms down and carefully (yet with curious interest) observes the surroundings. It is a sunken ship they have entered by going down one of those chasms, is it? How the heck does a ship end up within the Skull Ruins?? Ah, and that scuttling and scrabbling sounds whould have ceased now that both that dark foes have been defeated and even captures, shouldn't it? This place's feeling much less creepy without these and that immense darkness indeed.

She's up to follow Gustav and Posei then if they CAN do so in the first place - if they CANNOT for reasons, then Shiva would take effords to return to the surface; once arrived she'll let further handling of what those two have found underwater to the others + Azu as she'll scout the area for a proper place to set up camp - she and half of her Pokemon are horribly exhausted and just yearn for a rest, she herself would even skip dinner for the sake of more sleep. (We should have suffered an Exhaustion Penality for that battle against Dark Slowpoke already if I checked things correct now. Whoops... That means, it'd be -3 for any further Encounters + a lot of healing required for my Pokemon. Nope, not risking that, I'd really rather rest here at the Slowpoke Well if it's safe to do so than moving onwards, being a skilled Trainer or not.)

You want XP? Have some XP!
Each share of the fight is 18XP.

\(^0^)/ But wait, those were two battles, one against Dark Slowpoke and one against Dark Shellder - was each of them worth 18XP now or did you sum it up already?

[Iron]

"I actually need this the most," Spira picks up the Hyper Potion, "So, if you don't mind..." he adds it to his inventory.
Concerning the gold, is it bullion/something that'd have to be sold for its value, or something that could easily be used in place of pokedollars? If the former, then Spira has no problems with Terra holding on to the gold (provided he mentions IC that he'd be the best choice for selling off that gold), if the latter is the case, then let's go ahead and split that dough up!

Most places won't take it outright, but every town in Creshire has a bank or pawn shop or something who can easily deal in this bullion.



Arachnautilus ignores Terra's admonishment, of course.

Ratsy is fine, since there weren't any battlefield moves used. He's trembling, though. 


18XP is the total for the encounter.


Cosh: "We're on it. Shouldn't take long, even without Arachnautilus."

A bit later, he gets Arachnautilus to head up and lend her strength anyway. Soon the Scimitars have hauled up a mass of coral encrusted around a chain shirt made from hundreds of Keenglaive spikes, alternating fiery white and impenetrable blackness. Cosh Smashes away a chunk of coral and worms his normal hand and shoulder inside the armor. Immediately, the coral is blasted off in all directions, and Cosh can easily shrug into the Artifact. It flashes to acknowledge him.

"Finally! My status as someone more than human is acknowledged at last. Let us experiment! Gently, mind you!"

After some experimentation, it becomes clear that the Hauberk works best when bombarded with a variety of attacks. For example, when Cosh (in Steelix mode) is attacked by a Water attack, the attack is drawn to Arachnautilus instead. The Hauberk redirects buffs and attacks where they are most needed. It doesn't seem to acknowledge the Shield as an immunity, though, and may or may not redirect an attack to the wielder of the Shield.

"I see. This central piece of armor must help to coordinate the others. There is no doubt our forefathers were foresighted when they created this great work of art!"


The Scimitars are ready to rest for the night, and they make sure to ward the area against any errant Slowbro and build a makeshift two-room shelter atop one of the surface-level ships. "This is most likely the right way. Our shelter will guard the entrance against any other entity seeking deeper Layers. And after a rest, we'll be ready to move on!"

[Dragonstrike]

"...do you REALLY have to brag about it, Cosh?"

Nathan still finds this whole thing rather distasteful.  Mostly because of Cosh himself.

-------------------------------------------

Naturally, Nathan finds Terra's update on the Dark Shellder/Slowbro incredibly disturbing.  He can't help but shudder when he hears about that, and a part of him is glad he didn't go down there...

...he sure hopes this isn't an omen of things to come...

Well, at least everyone got more healing supplies.  Those should come in handy.  And they'll hopefully be enough, so long as they're all careful...money's nice too...

-------------------------------------------

Since Nathan still has an encounter slot to burn, he'll do a training session with Solosis, Emolga, and Servine.  They still need it the most out of everyone in his party.  Some basic elemental attack practice (Psychic, Electric, Grass) should do just fine  (1 or 2 exp?)

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

Most places won't take it outright, but every town in Creshire has a bank or pawn shop or something who can easily deal in this bullion.

Arachnautilus ignores Terra's admonishment, of course.

(...)

Cosh: "We're on it. Shouldn't take long, even without Arachnautilus."

A bit later, he gets Arachnautilus to head up and lend her strength anyway. Soon the Scimitars have hauled up a mass of coral encrusted around a chain shirt made from hundreds of Keenglaive spikes, alternating fiery white and impenetrable blackness. Cosh Smashes away a chunk of coral and worms his normal hand and shoulder inside the armor. Immediately, the coral is blasted off in all directions, and Cosh can easily shrug into the Artifact. It flashes to acknowledge him.

"Finally! My status as someone more than human is acknowledged at last. Let us experiment! Gently, mind you!"

(...)

"I see. This central piece of armor must help to coordinate the others. There is no doubt our forefathers were foresighted when they created this great work of art!"


The Scimitars are ready to rest for the night, and they make sure to ward the area against any errant Slowbro and build a makeshift two-room shelter atop one of the surface-level ships. "This is most likely the right way. Our shelter will guard the entrance against any other entity seeking deeper Layers. And after a rest, we'll be ready to move on!"

Spoiler

"...do you REALLY have to brag about it, Cosh?"

Nathan still finds this whole thing rather distasteful.  Mostly because of Cosh himself.

-------------------------------------------

Naturally, Nathan finds Terra's update on the Dark Shellder/Slowbro incredibly disturbing.  He can't help but shudder when he hears about that, and a part of him is glad he didn't go down there...

...he sure hopes this isn't an omen of things to come...

Well, at least everyone got more healing supplies.  Those should come in handy.  And they'll hopefully be enough, so long as they're all careful...

------------------------------------------

Obviously! Still, wouldn't be Terra if he didn't get on to someone about Language! His mother was raised him to be a good sense of manners, and expects the same from out of others too!

(...)

Witnessing the Master Scimitar pure joy and satisfaction at claiming The Haulberk for himself, the sagely monk couldn't help but cross his and nod approvingly at his partner, a slight but noticeable smile on his lips.

"You wear The Artifact well, Cosh. Good.  May it serve you and everyone with greatly, and you use it's powers goodly and responsibly."

If they would allow, Terra would also help them test it out, as why wouldn't he help his partner out? Plus, he gets to learn more about The Haulberk personally himself, and it would be a chance to further build camaraderie between the two of them!

Nathan's grouching gets them a mildly admonishing look from Terra, before he turned his attention back to Cosh and nodded.

"Yes, I agree. Old Cheshirians must have been.....amazing and smart to make the Artifacts. Wonder if people now could ever make something like them, someday. Hm...."

(...)

Terra has no qualms with his mighty magical mage of a partner's and the other Scims camping + travel plans, and after making dinner he would soon retire for the night (And offering Solomon's Heal Pulses for anyone that needed them.....

....but not before he sought out his friend Nathan, walking up to them with Oinari dozing lightly on his shoulder looking......worried. If they were sitting/laying down, he do so beside them.

"....Nathan? Can we talk?"

[Dragonstrike]

Terra has no qualms with his mighty magical mage of a partner's and the other Scims camping + travel plans, and after making dinner he would soon retire for the night (And offering Solomon's Heal Pulses for anyone that needed them.....

....but not before he sought out his friend Nathan, walking up to them with Oinari dozing lightly on his shoulder looking......worried. If they were sitting/laying down, he do so beside them.

"....Nathan? Can we talk?"

"...about what?"

Nathan's trying to focus on the training session right now.  He doesn't seem to be in a happy mood, that much is obvious.  What kind of mood he's in exactly...well, Terra can't tell.  Nathan's purposely keeping a straight face, keeping his emotions as turned inward as he possibly can without overdoing it.

[Lord Windos]

"...about what?"

Nathan's trying to focus on the training session right now.  He doesn't seem to be in a happy mood, that much is obvious.  What kind of mood he's in exactly...well, Terra can't tell.  Nathan's purposely keeping a straight face, keeping his emotions as turned inward as he possibly can without overdoing it.

"....About you."

Terra may be dense as a lead anchor when it came to reading people, and roughly just as socially inept, but it doesn't take a sociologist or Empathetic savant to recognize a pattern. More specifically, and pattern of deteriorating good cheer and increasing reservation in what he could honestly say was his best bud, ever since they entered the Skull Ruins. 

He didn't like what he's seen. At all. So he wanted to address what he saw as a grave problem, and do his best to help the young intellectual resolve it in a healthy manner. Its the very least he could do for them, as both a concerned guardian and, more importantly, their friend.

Simultaneously, he could also tell that they were keeping themselves busy with their Training Session (Something he'd done several times himself) and their reluctance to speak, and so made to turn away and leave them to it. But not before saying some parting words in a calm and concerned tone.

"Come talk with me. When you are finished, and ready to. Please."

And Terra walked away, returning inside the group's own tent and his own private area of it. Normally he'd like to sleep outside of it, but doing so in the Skull Ruins would practically beg for something catastrophically bad to happen, and so he had to forgo that habit. Besides, sleep on cave rocks and/or the outside of a ship was uncomfortable even for him, so the decision didn't bother him all that much in the end.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Ancient Artifact Stuff

Cosh: "We're on it. Shouldn't take long, even without Arachnautilus."

A bit later, he gets Arachnautilus to head up and lend her strength anyway. Soon the Scimitars have hauled up a mass of coral encrusted around a chain shirt made from hundreds of Keenglaive spikes, alternating fiery white and impenetrable blackness. Cosh Smashes away a chunk of coral and worms his normal hand and shoulder inside the armor. Immediately, the coral is blasted off in all directions, and Cosh can easily shrug into the Artifact. It flashes to acknowledge him.

"Finally! My status as someone more than human is acknowledged at last. Let us experiment! Gently, mind you!"

After some experimentation, it becomes clear that the Hauberk works best when bombarded with a variety of attacks. For example, when Cosh (in Steelix mode) is attacked by a Water attack, the attack is drawn to Arachnautilus instead. The Hauberk redirects buffs and attacks where they are most needed. It doesn't seem to acknowledge the Shield as an immunity, though, and may or may not redirect an attack to the wielder of the Shield.

"I see. This central piece of armor must help to coordinate the others. There is no doubt our forefathers were foresighted when they created this great work of art!"

Shiva has waved the others of the group a goodnight and see-you-soon as soon as they have made it outta that sunken ship and back to the surface, her exhaustion and desire to recover a bit from the happenings deep down in complete darkness barely leave room for any further activities; all she gently wishes for now is some rest and alone time. If Terra's worried about these happenings having created a lasting and negative impression on her, she'll explain to him that this is not the case and she's simply extremely tired pyhically and emotionally; nothing more and nothing less. She'll even skip proper dinner, only snatch a handful of Gourmet Food when she feed and cares for her Pokemon.

Means, she's not there when THE SECOND ARTIFACT!!!! is successfully retrieved and tried out by Cosh, nor during experimentation to find out what it does. However, she'll do so at the soonest opportunity (sometime after rest probably) and that is when she semi-bombards Cosh with questions that he can't evade because Shiva's very persistant and just as curious. They're Artifact-Pals after all now!~ But Shiva's asking in a non-annoying way and one that honestly tells that she's interested. "So that's the second exemplar of these ancient artifacts, is it? Looks good on you, and we're making progress, yess!! ( ÒωÓ)و☆ It's very pretty... Did it too, how do I say it... 'touch your soul' as it acknowledged you as a worthy wielder like the Shield did to me? You know, like this Shield and the Hauberk are living things and have a mindset on their own. Will you wear and make us of it all the time now? Is it comfortable to wear? Do you think you're having any influence on where the attacks and buffs are redirected too or does the Hauberk decide on that all alone and on it's own...?"

And so on and so on. Especially that last point fascinates the natural fae enthusiast a lot as it hints to the Hauberk being able to, well, 'thinks and acts on its own' unlike the Shield which only provides the protection when the wielder = she calls for it?

Ratsy is fine, since there weren't any battlefield moves used. He's trembling, though.

That will be adressed within the tent when Shiva's turning in for the night: Having taken off and nicely folded her old but treasured Ranger's Cloak, she carefully picks the black rat out of the pocket and sets herself down on the sleeping place with him in her hand. For a while she'll do nothing different than holding this still-trembling Ratsy in her open hands close to her and providing soothing words and calming strokes through his velvet black fur; she doesn't care at all that this causes stains of pain on her hands from the ever-dripping tail of this smol Pokemon.

"It's all over and dealt with now, Ratsy", she repeats over and over until the words have properly sank in, "You're safe, I said I'll keep you safe as long as you don't get yourself into trouble willingly. And even IF you'd do, me and my Pokemon will defend you and patch up any wounds. You're a way too adorable and special Pokemon to feature wounds!~ And you're dear to me, that too, even if you hissed at me at first. Hehe..." *alluring and fond smile* "Try to sleep a bit for now and once we're up and about again, we'll continue our way. You can stay in my pocket so that we move on together!" More gentle strokes, once Shiva even gently ruffles the purple hair of this rat. "But say, would you want that I put that card -" She draws the card feat. shiny Sylveon, "- into the pocket as well so that if there's danger and threat for you, you can escape into it? There you should be safe from all harm. Registering you to a Pokeball would work too, but that means that you'll have to be sent to the PC, which I actually don't want to just now..." She let's Ratsy himself decide what he prefers. Shiva herself would choose the option with the card so that she and Ratsy stay together.

What Shiva also does despite her exhaustion is taking a few minutes felting a small pillow for him out of some Cottonee-cotton, she skillfully weaves in one or two petals of a Potion and a Full heal orchid (only one petal, not in a way that it uses the orchids up) and adds some final touch with some shed shield dust from Yena before handing it to Ratsy and before she gets her 5th point in Crafting Speciality for 24XP. "If you're scared or feeling unease or simply can't sleep now, nuzzle up to this for comfort. ^_^ " Shiva will also keep the Shield close - she CAN put it away for the few hours, can she? - and the moment anything calls for protection or dares to get too close to Ratsy, she's all-action and won't hesitate a moment to defend those she cares for. Sleep is much more restful if knowing that she can do so with the help of this precisous Artifact indeed!~

[Iron]

I think down here you deserve 3 base XP for a training session.

Emolga also gets a training roll. (6)(5)(3)(2)(4)(4) (2)(3)(1)(6)(5)(5) (6)(6) = +9 XP

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

"....About you."

Terra may be dense as a lead anchor when it came to reading people, and roughly just as socially inept, but it doesn't take a sociologist or Empathetic savant to recognize a pattern. More specifically, and pattern of deteriorating good cheer and increasing reservation in what he could honestly say was his best bud, ever since they entered the Skull Ruins. 

He didn't like what he's seen. At all. So he wanted to address what he saw as a grave problem, and do his best to help the young intellectual resolve it in a healthy manner. Its the very least he could do for them, as both a concerned guardian and, more importantly, their friend.

Simultaneously, he could also tell that they were keeping themselves busy with their Training Session (Something he'd done several times himself) and their reluctance to speak, and so made to turn away and leave them to it. But not before saying some parting words in a calm and concerned tone.

"Come talk with me. When you are finished, and ready to. Please."

And Terra walked away, returning inside the group's own tent and his own private area of it. Normally he'd like to sleep outside of it, but doing so in the Skull Ruins would practically beg for something catastrophically bad to happen, and so he had to forgo that habit. Besides, sleep on cave rocks and/or the outside of a ship was uncomfortable even for him, so the decision didn't bother him all that much in the end.

(...might as well get this out of the way...)

When Nathan finishes, he stands in the doorway to Terra's section of the tent, where the merchant's son is likely waiting for him.

"...well?"

Nathan doesn't have a lot to say right now.