[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Iron]

Led by Cosh, you very quickly find the eroded area, and follow it to an area where broad castle towers and delicate swirling minarets poke through the bedrock at random. Some of these are decorated with stairways or climbable decorations, but very few contain any form of entranceway.

"The lower levels won't be accessible from these towers, but be very very careful! We are in the heart of the King's domain now, essentially. Do NOT lose the Sword and Shield! Everything is well-defended, and some of the King's Pokemon could be long lived enough to still be around. He had Golett and Golurk, primitive ancestors of Voltorb, and lots of alert species who have probably bred up quite a community."

"That's not all. The Scavenger Society who lived briefly after the King, like we saw in the Slowpoke Well, may have adapted many of Sarimanok's traps and technologies. Could be hidden away inside ordinary objects.They may also have hidden some useful scavenged objects, though!"

"Unfortunately, most of these few entrances are blocked with the indestructible rubble of Sarimanok's secret construction techniques. Fortunately, we Scimitars came prepared with a legendary Strength spell, so any one of us can let you in to any turret that seems worth exploring."


Here's what you spot along the way. You're feeling the influence of the Eye more than ever, and only carefully avoiding eye contact stops you from assaulting every 'mon you see (you don't have to take an Encounter right now). A lot of them are shy little mons, here, rather than the giant ones you've been seeing.

Minarets Encounters 1

1. Name: Giant Golurk
Cap: 2 (1)
Challenge: Tough
Bid: 1

2. Name: Lunapup*
Cap: (1)
Challenge: Medium
Bid: 3
Note: Very Shy, but guarding a certain minaret entrance like a guard dog

3. Name: Baltoy horde
Cap: 2
Challenge: Med
Bid: 1

4. Name: Giant Chimecho
Cap: 1
Challenge: Medium high
Bid: 2

5. Name: Escavalier*
Cap: 1
Challenge: easy enough
Bid: 2

6. Name: Seadra*
Cap: 1
Challenge: Medium
Bid: 1
Note: Lives in a flooded towertop.

[Dragonstrike]

(Gonna get my music up early this time!)

The Minarets: Hyrule Castle (Outside) - Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

To test something, would a Plot Deviced ROCK SMASH from Gallade be enough to damage one of the minaret walls?

[Spiritmon]

Heart simple follow forward away from the others, wanting distance of Nathan as much possible. He look to Nathan new sword and can't helping but feel jealous, to the point when flames begin to crack from his back. He try to control himself and focus on the adventure. He still give a angry look towards Nathan, his frustration and anger more appealing as ever. "I go checking in the front. See if I can try find the Artefact sooner. Shiva. Terra. Spira. Call me if you need any help." Heart ignore completely the existence of the young Warren and before he could say anything, Heart already disappear in the shadows, using the most old Ally of his family: Stealth.

I take encounter 1 @Iron against Giant Golurk.

[Mikaruge108]

4. Name: Giant Chimecho
Cap: 1
Challenge: Medium high
Bid: 2

Spira hears the cry of the oversized Chimecho and decides to check it out, he summons Noire; "Let's ring this bell!"

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

++Small flashback++

Gallade walks up, puts a hand on Shiva's shoulder, stares right into her eyes, and gives her a confident, (hopefully) reassuring nod.
Nathan has a small smile on his face as he looks upon his best friend's actions. "Gallade thinks you can overcome this. If he can overcome his crippling fear of Steel types, I think you can get past this. Maybe not right now, but one day. You're a strong person. Stronger than most."
And that's all Nathan really has to say on the matter. He seems to be confident in those words, too.
...even if he can't help but still be somewhat nervous around Shiva on some level, worried as he is about saying the wrong thing at the wrong time unintentionally.

Shiva flinches a little from the touch despite knowing that it's just Gallade and that she doesn't sense a single hint of hostility, or, better, reason for her to scare away - she still does involuntarily due to her erratic nervosity steming from the presence of the Nidos. She appreciates the reassurance and that is what she lets the psychic knight know - she's still relieved in some way once he withdraws his hand though.

In response to the nice and encouraging words, she turns meek and uncertain, musters the super-interesting ground and everything, basically falls back into her soft-old self. Her expression is a sad one, but it features a FAINT smile of thankfulness still. "You think so...? I don't know..." She holds back a sob. "Strength is what I've been yearing for for so long now. It's feeling...strange to be called 'strong' now, but also nice - very very nice actually. Thank you.... I guess." The way she brings up these words still suggests that she's doubtful about that, but once she's less nervous and erratic and can think about things with a more clear mind, Shiva will realize that she indeed has grown so much as a person, as well as a Trainer - despite she didn't even want to become one in the first place! Whimsicott and Azu happily confirm that, Yena jumps in to give his alpha leader a hearty lick over the face.

As soon as Nathan and Gallade are out of range though, something strange occurs as Shiva begins to weep some more, all silently while she finishes packing her stuff together. It's painful to come to the conclusion that yes, while she may be able to handle Poison Types a LITTLE better by now, she doesn't think she can ever overcome her fear of a Nidoking. Too biased she is, too deep lies that trauma about that one exemplar has been given to her father's care and what it has done to him and her home.

++++


The local natural fae-enthusiast observes the surroundings with interest and curiosity again once they eventually have left the kingdom of that Nido, clearly having recovered fastly once she can't sense these poisonous Pokemon's presence anymore. Subconsciously she clings to the Shield harder when Cosh asks them to not loose these two Artifacts. She visibly perks and lights up when she hears the Earth Scim Leader talk about how the scavengers might have not only claimed traps and technology from that fateful King for themselves, but also useful and worthy things! She wishes confirm this to herself, maybe even obtain one or two nice objects. Key Stones should be buried somewhere too, as Sarimanok had some.

But all she spots is a weird canine shyly peeking out from behind a certain minaret, Shiva is impressed by how much determination that creature radiates - Must take their task of guarding something very seriously? Either way, CUTE PUPPY SPOTTED!!~

2. Name: Lunapup*
Cap: (1)
Challenge: Medium
Bid: 3
Note: Very Shy, but guarding a certain minaret entrance like a guard dog

She has no idea about what that species is until her Almanac would tell her.

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

Led by Cosh, you very quickly find the eroded area, and follow it to an area where broad castle towers and delicate swirling minarets poke through the bedrock at random. Some of these are decorated with stairways or climbable decorations, but very few contain any form of entranceway.

"The lower levels won't be accessible from these towers, but be very very careful! We are in the heart of the King's domain now, essentially. Do NOT lose the Sword and Shield! Everything is well-defended, and some of the King's Pokemon could be long lived enough to still be around. He had Golett and Golurk, primitive ancestors of Voltorb, and lots of alert species who have probably bred up quite a community."

"That's not all. The Scavenger Society who lived briefly after the King, like we saw in the Slowpoke Well, may have adapted many of Sarimanok's traps and technologies. Could be hidden away inside ordinary objects.They may also have hidden some useful scavenged objects, though!"

"Unfortunately, most of these few entrances are blocked with the indestructible rubble of Sarimanok's secret construction techniques. Fortunately, we Scimitars came prepared with a legendary Strength spell, so any one of us can let you in to any turret that seems worth exploring."


Here's what you spot along the way. You're feeling the influence of the Eye more than ever, and only carefully avoiding eye contact stops you from assaulting every 'mon you see (you don't have to take an Encounter right now). A lot of them are shy little mons, here, rather than the giant ones you've been seeing.

Minarets Encounters 1


5. Name: Escavalier*
Cap: 1
Challenge: easy enough
Bid: 2

Terra listens to all his arcane master of a partner's warnings with calm seriousness, nodding along with crossed arms and Oinari resting ontop of them, while Angie hovered around curiously/protectively over/around Nathan and his Dratini, occassionally glancing over at her papa to make sure he's alright. If Cosh was concerned enough about the danger up ahead to start giving out major warnings for the group at large, then it was of paramount importance that he'd listen closely and carefully. After all, one wrong move or miscalculation at this point could cost him or his friends their lives, or WORSE....

On the journey deeper down, the sagely monk endeavors more than ever to resisting the influence of The Eye, as after his vigorous and bracing run in with Giant Tentacruel he absolutely did NOT want to lose himself to battle frenzy again. He shouldn't has lost control of himself in the first place, for that matter, and the fact that he did and nearly ended up getting himself and his Pokemon kill brings him no small amount of shame or disgrace. For now on, though, he'll do better, and never again succumb to such a lust for challenge and combat! Never!

When they finally reached the Minerats , it didn't take long for the steely brawler to pick out what looked like an armored knightly Bug of some sort lurking around the place, and after making sure everyone was a-okay he sent off to carefully assess them further, and see if they'd make for a good new addition to his line up. Before he did that, though, he'd request Cosh to tag along with him as added protection and a failsafe, just in case something goes awry like in his last fight. Time for a good old classic knightly duel (perhaps) !

[Dragonstrike]

I imagine Nathan might be investigating the flooded towertop partially because Dratini might have sensed something interesting up there. Nathan would motion for Kelda to follow. "Let's go check out that tower over there."

One Seadra* encounter, coming right up!

And just to ask once again, would a PD ROCK SMASH be enough to damage a portion of the minarets even slightly?

[Iron]

Rock Smash on its own does not even affect the minarets. With the Sword in hand (the first time you're using it), the massive overblown Rock Smash attack raises a vast cloud of choking dust into the air. When it clears, you find you've taken a decent chip out of the stonework. That attack should have shattered an entire wall. The higher up on a minaret you are, the more damage you can do.


The watery tower pool vibrates and ripples. Then from up out of the 6ft deep water bursts a Seadra! After bursting from the water, it STAYS floating, flapping its "wings" quite slowly in the air to stay aloft. It's extra sleek with bigger wings and body than normal. It otherwise appears normal. Also, there's a scrap of Power Herb hanging from its mouth.

[Iron]

The Escavalier is patrolling the minaret's outer stairs with the certainty of long habit. The biggest difference is in its coloration - all plumage and decoration is pink, yellow, and pastel blue, and it has the sigil of the Eye on its shielded abdomen.

[Iron]

Lunapup, too, is Eye-patterned. That is, it's got just a small patch of fur on its forehead shaped like the Eye. However, the edges of all its hairs tingle with a corona, as if the moon lives between them. When it perks up its head upon smelling you, the shifting light forms a secondary afterimage of a mane, with a touch of sunset coloration. It whines and retreats back into its doorway a bit, shuffling on its tummy.