[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

Heart and Terra, is there anything in particular you want to pursue at this moment? Or to join one of the aformentioned party members?

Terra will be following Nathan's lead, while Ventus goes after Shiva. They don't really have much to do by themselves on Garliburg at the moment, as they're far more focused on 'the mission' for coming here and making sure it goes off without a hitch.

As for what they'd do/react to in their respective Encounters, they'll follow the leads of Nathan and Shiva respectively, as they don't want to jump the gun and start anything without them being ready for it.

Essentially, my charas are in Bystander Mode for now, until events become sufficiently 'exciting' enough to warrant me to REALLY get into things to bail people out....

[Dragonstrike]

"Well.... it's true that you have the Artifacts. I can't risk my soldiers down there, though. We could set up a cordon in the big hallway around that entire area, lock all but one door for you to access at your own risk. That's the best I can offer. And you'll have to report on everything you find there."

Nathan and Kingdra "fly" off in one direction while Shiva scubas in another.

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Nathan, and anyone who chooses to accompany him, finds themselves passing the same rock over and over again. It's identifiable by the spiral pattern on it, visible within a beam of sunlight that pierces the depths. Circling a hundred feet above, darting in and out of the kelp circle, you see the silhouettes of some broad fishlike Pokemon with fins almost like frilled wings. The details are not clear, but Kingdra actually looks unusually nervous.

"That all sounds agreeable.  After we're done with the DIVING, I'll see what I can do about those labs."

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The newly evolved master of both sea and sky, nervous?  How unexpected...this is, however a good opportunity for Nathan to reassure the Dragon (thanks to DIVE providing an air bubble for him, so he can actually talk to the seahorse).  "We're working as a team, yeah?  I'm trusting you to lead us to our destination, and you can trust me to back you up.  This Sword isn't just for show, after all.  And together, we should be able achieve things that neither of us would be able to accomplish alone.  Right?  Let's proceed with caution, but confidence."

Passing the same rock over and over again, eh?  And said rock has a spiral pattern...hmmmm...well, if they're going in circles for unexplainable reasons, then this is likely some kind of puzzle that needs to be solved before they can proceed.  Nathan indicates to Kingdra that they should get closer to the rock so that he can examine it more carefully, while he asks everyone present to keep an eye on those fish circling above.  If they have to fight those pokemon, he doesn't want to be caught off guard by them while trying to investigate that rock.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

"Well.... it's true that you have the Artifacts. I can't risk my soldiers down there, though. We could set up a cordon in the big hallway around that entire area, lock all but one door for you to access at your own risk. That's the best I can offer. And you'll have to report on everything you find there." (...)

Towards these words Shiva looks very pleased and grateful!~ Her posture and expression all visibly relax. "That's...likely the closest of an agreement we'll reach, isn't it? It's an agreement that I'm absolutely and totally fine with, yes, thank thee so sooo much! (⌒▽⌒)☆ Let's do that once I hopefully found part.1 of the objectives I came for, shall we?~"

She's all delighted and smiles to herself as she blatantly hopes that she won't be too late, and Shiva's also somewhat proud of herself: First because she managed to convince Ed and Rita and propose her points (something she would struggled with at the beginning of the journey through the region), and second because the Artifact is such a neat door opener.

---

After a lot of searching, Shiva finds a strange trail of bubbles. Each one is full of thick thick mud. The underwater bubbles get bigger and less diffuse as they get farther from their source, so it's easy to follow.

A school of small and curious Qwilfish and Barboach are following the bubbles, but don't seem to be the source of them. Instead, you follow them (I presume) to their origin point in a small sandy cave that seems directly underneath the outer portions of Garlicburg. A chimney of stone leads straight upward, channeling any rogue waves straight upward. A new species of the giant kelp clings to the walls, surviving off the salty moisture. You can see big Shellder up there gnawing on it, and you can see daylight at the top. But all the kelp ceases immediately about a meter from the top.

Meanwhile, down in the sea cavern, Azu silently points toward a glitter of light adorning the top of a large, crude, mudcastle. Half-submerged in the mud is a 10' Kingler, his mouth carefully lowered to the water where he is blowing the big muddy bubbles. One claw is so large that it is almost entirely sunken in the dirt. The other is small, sharp, and more agile-looking.

And so the natural fae-enthusiast, her dear blue magician of an Azumarill and the lovely Pokemon sociologist with the big heart begin their search... Shiva's very pleased to be accompanied by Ven on this.♡

Yes naturally she does follow the trail of these bubbles full of thick thick mud - it's a hint, it's a curiosity, it's something that might lead her somewhere interesting. As they do so she's very careful to NOT touch nor get TOO close to one of these bubbles though and indicates Qwilfish and Barboach to do so as well, she's got a bad feeling about that.

As they reach the sandy cave, discover that...mudcastle(!) and spot something glittery(!!!) thanks to Azu, Shiva's THRILLED TO BITS, what a beautiful and unique place this is!!! Her sixth sense automatically makes her desire for this glittering decoration atop the castle, is that...? It's definitely possible!!

That Kingler's in the way though. Shiva gently gestures to Azu to CAREFULLY approach this crab, 'respond' to their stream of bubbles with a bubblebeam'd one herself, generally just make them notice her to see how they react to the visitors - all while the Shield's protection is granted to Azu, just in case. Shiva may try to avoid fighting them at first, but something's telling her that in one way or the other she'll have to do so eventually - Kingler likely won't part with precious things just like that.

[Iron]

When Nathan investigates the stone, he does sense a psychic force surrounding it. You notice it's surrounded by a similar pattern, full of rotational symmetry, arranged in the sand.

The silhouettes above are getting closer, but still aren't clearly visible.

[Iron]

Kingler glares at Azu, and lifts his mouth from the sand. He begins launching even bigger Bubbles into the air of the cavern, letting his own absorb all of Azu's smaller bubbles. Then he pops it with a rapid strike from his smaller claw, splattering mud all over Shiva, Azu, and himself.

[Spiritmon]

Heart and Terra, is there anything in particular you want to pursue at this moment? Or to join one of the aformentioned party members?

Heart will follow both Terra and Nathan. They might need a shaman with Earthpower skills.

Talking about party line up, this is my party for this adventure:

- Koa (Dragon Plate)
- Typhon (Eletric Plate)
- Delta Pikachu (Poison Barb)
- Aegislash (Ghost Plate)
- Chespin (Miracle Seed)
- Swampert (Swamperinite)

Heart also talk with Typhon. "Old friend. It is time." Heart show to his little Eletric Pokemon the Thunder Stone. "Ready to evolve?"

I would also like to teach Typhon, D-Pikachu, Aegislash, Chespin and Swampert the move Hidden Power. Let's see what kind of power they will receive.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Eww how meeeeeean of that Kingler to welcome their guests in such a hostile manner! Though as Shiva quickly wipes it from her diving googles to have a clear vision again, she feels confirmed that this crab uses  these bubbles full of thick thick mud for hunting prey. (Does it have any mechanical effect to be hit by those bubbles or mud actually? If it does, Shiva would definitely notice it with her honed Insight.)

She as well as Azu back off but don't leave, they just get outta the Kingler's, their bubbles and claw's immediate range. Azu quickly rubs most of that mud off her fine blue fur and returns their glare with a 'DoEs tHis LoOk lIKe tHa faCe of mErCY!?!'-one at best dragonslayer-style and gets ready to teach this mean Kingler-crab a lesson about better NOT messing with a cute blue fae-rabbit and her lovely Trainer that got her eyes set on precious loot!!


(Yes this is indeed where a battle starts, Kingler wanted it that way. @Lord Windos, does Ven join in? It'd be cool if he would and could, but he of course doesn't have to go the offensive way, providing back-up via debuffs or such would be perfectly alright.)

[Iron]

https://pokemonuranium.co/forum/showthre...1#pid71621

The little Pokemon wriggles with excitement! When you apply the stone, he absorbs the electric energy and turns himself into a snake of light. Growing more limbs, lengthening, and the light finally fading to reveal the Cheshire grin of Eelektross.

Let's see what I can come up with.

Eelektross
His hidden power makes him fully magnetic, allowing him to draw in any metallic Pokemon, trapping them and dealing double damage dice. It's Dark type, allowing it to be neutral on Steel. Power 3.

Delta Pikachu
Pikachu's HP is Grass type, 3 power, and has 1CD to send the opponent to sleep.

Aegislash
His HP compels obedience for a one-word command if it deals any damage. Type is Psychic. Power is 2.

Chespin
His HP is just a strong Psychic attack, 4 power. But it always deals 1 dmg to Dark types.

Swampert
Swampert's 2 power, Electric move makes use of his radar to bypass all cover.

[Iron]

The bubbles can slow you or make you inaccurate if you take a direct hit, but the mud is merely gross by default.

You (two?) can describe the battle! Kingler will use bigger and bigger bubbles as his attacks, and that small claw is very sharp and fast. The buried claw is instant death if you should be crushed inside it! Fortunately, that can only happen if you get very close.

He'll also become more enraged the closer you get to his mud castle.

[Dragonstrike]

When Nathan investigates the stone, he does sense a psychic force surrounding it. You notice it's surrounded by a similar pattern, full of rotational symmetry, arranged in the sand.

The silhouettes above are getting closer, but still aren't clearly visible.

Nathan takes careful note of the shadowy forms lingering above.  He signals to Terra, Heart, and any soldiers accompanying them, pointing up at the shadows to tell the group to watch them carefully.  He then puts a hand on the hilt of the Sword to indicate they should be ready for a fight.

Contrasting Kingdra's nervousness, Nathan remains calm as he signals and prepares.  He nods to Kingdra, saying, "Be ready.  I'm likely going to need your help in a second," then returns to reexamining the stone.

Nathan has 3 ideas at the current moment, to be attempted in the listed order.

1. Attempt to rotate the stone in the same direction as its spiral pattern.

2. Starting at the stone, follow the spiral patttern, swimming in ever larger circles around the origin point.

3. Ask Kingdra to Yawn and create a small whirlpool (rotating in the same direction as the spiral pattern) centralized on the stone's location (yup, Kingdra don't need to know Whirlpool to do that.  Bonus points if that scares off the shadowy pokemon above, as that's quite a powerful skill to have!).

With any luck, one of those three might get the group past this obstacle.