[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Iron]

"If I happen to still be alive, I'll look forward to hearing about your adventures."

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Shiva: https://pokemonuranium.co/forum/showthre...8#pid74288
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S-so much neat goods! ＼(≧▽≦)／Shiva's very intrigued by aaaaall these cool food items, and at almost every vendor she visits she and her dear Pokemon are offered a free taste. How lovely and kind! Must be her hero status. Or people that recognize her. Or fans. Or all of that.

...She ends up buying a package of several muffins with that secret herb, and enough of every other herb to later bake a whole tray on her own. Whenever there's even the slightest chance to do so, Primal Espeon exitingly sniffs on these herbs.


And then they reach the stall with the cutting edge... "Hello an' good evening, young lady!~ Having two beautoful Grass Types with you, I bet I can interest you in these special sweet especially for this nature-y Type of Pokemon, can I?" Of couse the salesperson can, Whimsicott and Nightshade are STAAARING at these curious candies. ...And at the end of the day, Shiva has bought 4 of these candies in total, making it 200$. She carefully packs them away, as well as away from her eager fluffball who tried to snatch one away at an instant. "These are for later and tomorrow, my dearest, you gotta be a bit patient, haha!"

Pokeclothes, how adoooorable ! But various of her loyal Pokemon already wear some sort of custom decorative item... Maybe later she'll find something neat to mae a few of them look even more cute!! Ohhh, and that craftsman that decorates Held Items... Gonna revisit it soon enough!


Now, what's sold as 'University merch'? That'll be the last vendor Shiva visits today, before she'll head back to her dorm in the hillside for some qualitative time with her Pokemon (as in, some bonding and interactions about to come)

[Dragonstrike]

With that task finished, Nathan has two other major tasks in mind for this week to prepare for the upcoming adventure with Mesprit and the Red Chain.

1. Research: anything Nathan might be able to find that could provide additional clues that might reveal more details about what they'll be up against, Nathan will want to try and look up.  A hard task due to a lack of detailed records?  Most likely.  However, Nathan has an excellent helper for this task: Solomon!  Few individuals know more about Sarimanok's time than he, and given where he evolved, there's also a chance he might know more about the events surrounding the Lake Trio specifically.

With the Slowking's help (and possibly a lot of time trying to decipher what he's saying with scrabble tiles), maybe Nathan will be able to turn up some of that additional information he's looking for...

2. The Revived Genesect.  It'll be revived about halfway through the week, so Nathan's set aside time to pick up the Legendary fossil pokemon from Professor Laurelin.  Given the importance of this event, this event should see a bit more active roleplay than the first point at first (though that first point is still relatively important in the grand scheme of things as well).

[Iron]

University Merch is just various trinkets with University logos on it. Baseball caps, shot glasses, notebooks of various kinds, pillows, sweatshirts.

Oh yeah, and I haven't brought up Creshire Clash in a long time, but you see a lot of people playing it on University grounds.

[Iron]

Solomon brings you a book called "Healing Hands, Deadly Hands."

Solomon discovers that in Sarimanok's time, the Lake Trio was relatively peaceful and undisturbed. Though Sarimanok might occasionally ask a favor of them, none of them were in his own Legendary Trio. None of his Trio were Water type or associated with water. Especially Azelf was visited, because Willpower was something Sarimanok prided himself on.

However, there was another branch of Sarimanok's family who did visit the Lake Trio. These cousins and half-siblings didn't use Pokemon for battle very often, but they did a lot of research on what today we'd call Earthpower. They were mystics and philosophers who trained a lot of Water and Psychic Pokemon, much to the delight of Solomon. It seems likely from this research that today's Scimitars drew on a lot of those old "natural philosophies" from Sarimanok's extended family. Due to these traits, the mystics of Sarimanok's time were obsessed with the Lake Trio above all other legendaries. And of course there were plenty of other Psychic legendaries for them to seek.

Uxie once prophesied that the mystics of Sarimanok's time would eventually betray the Lake Trio, but it's unclear whether that ever came to pass. Sarimanok condemned this particular prophecy, saying the future could never be contained in the Knowledge of any being in the present. Prophecy was at best speculation. "Though prophecy be wisdom, prophecy be not Knowledge."

[Iron]

I assume Windos' character(s) are also present at Laurelin's lab.

You meet Laurelin at her office. She shows you to a hallway near Genesect's door, bound with heavy steel locks and a compression wheel.
"It's... it's nothing like what I imagined. I... I'm pretty sure it worked correctly, though that revivification machine will never be the same again. And the thing seems shy; it's seeking cover and shelter a lot. The strength... it can lift entire boulders and rearrange them to suit its own purposes. I think the only reason it hasn't shaken this lab to its roots is because it doesn't want to, regardless of the safety mechanisms I put in place. It's actually a sort of calm strength, you could call it. I've fed it an entire barrel of cloned meat but it hasn't been the least bit aggressive so far."

A few tendrils of humid mist rolls out from under the door.

"Even out here, I imagine that I can feel the power flowing from this primal creature. It makes that Rampardos look like a Slowpoke."

[Dragonstrike]

At the library

Solomon brings you a book called "Healing Hands, Deadly Hands."

Solomon discovers that in Sarimanok's time, the Lake Trio was relatively peaceful and undisturbed. Though Sarimanok might occasionally ask a favor of them, none of them were in his own Legendary Trio. None of his Trio were Water type or associated with water. Especially Azelf was visited, because Willpower was something Sarimanok prided himself on.

However, there was another branch of Sarimanok's family who did visit the Lake Trio. These cousins and half-siblings didn't use Pokemon for battle very often, but they did a lot of research on what today we'd call Earthpower. They were mystics and philosophers who trained a lot of Water and Psychic Pokemon, much to the delight of Solomon. It seems likely from this research that today's Scimitars drew on a lot of those old "natural philosophies" from Sarimanok's extended family. Due to these traits, the mystics of Sarimanok's time were obsessed with the Lake Trio above all other legendaries. And of course there were plenty of other Psychic legendaries for them to seek.

Uxie once prophesied that the mystics of Sarimanok's time would eventually betray the Lake Trio, but it's unclear whether that ever came to pass. Sarimanok condemned this particular prophecy, saying the future could never be contained in the Knowledge of any being in the present. Prophecy was at best speculation. "Though prophecy be wisdom, prophecy be not Knowledge."

That tidbit of knowledge only deepens some of Nathan's current suspicions, and his quiet musings to Solomon attempt to fill in some of the gaps in this story.  "...and Azelf likely disappeared in the vicinity of a location where a Water Scimitar base is located in the present.  The more I read, the more I doubt that's just a coincidence...and with human carelessness to blame for the Lake Trio being split apart, there's little doubt in my mind that Uxie's prophecy came to pass after all...and I can certainly name a group of people today that don't particularly care for what a pokemon's needs and desires are...the more I read, the more I feel I understand, yet the more questions I have...but I do think I might have a clearer grasp on the immediate situation..."

Nathan looks to Solomon, a very serious glint in his eyes as he asks for a second opinion.  "What say you, though, Solomon?  Are you also thinking that today's Water Scimitars might be related to this tragedy with the Lake Trio?"

At the lab

I assume Windos' character(s) are also present at Laurelin's lab.

You meet Laurelin at her office. She shows you to a hallway near Genesect's door, bound with heavy steel locks and a compression wheel.
"It's... it's nothing like what I imagined. I... I'm pretty sure it worked correctly, though that revivification machine will never be the same again. And the thing seems shy; it's seeking cover and shelter a lot. The strength... it can lift entire boulders and rearrange them to suit its own purposes. I think the only reason it hasn't shaken this lab to its roots is because it doesn't want to, regardless of the safety mechanisms I put in place. It's actually a sort of calm strength, you could call it. I've fed it an entire barrel of cloned meat but it hasn't been the least bit aggressive so far."

A few tendrils of humid mist rolls out from under the door.

"Even out here, I imagine that I can feel the power flowing from this primal creature. It makes that Rampardos look like a Slowpoke."

Nathan nods to Laurelin.  "If it's calm, that's good.  Really good.  Thank you, Professor.  If something goes wrong, then I'll do my best to deal with the situation quickly and keep it contained."

Before he does anything else, though, Nathan looks to Terra and Ventus with concern of varying kinds.  "I'm gonna go talk with it now.  Terra, if you're coming in with me, please don't bring your bug in with you, at least initially.  Genesect are very competitive and territorial from what I know, and we don't need a competition right this moment."  (And if Terra has the Hauberk now, that would be very reassuring backup for Nathan should something go wrong)

"Ventus...well, I have a feeling you'll want to see this Legend for yourself, but...please be careful if you do.  After what happened on Garlicburg...well, I can't help but worry.  If you feel faint for any reason, please take a moment to breathe away from the overwhelming presence.  I don't need to tell you this, but Creshire's truly Legendary powers are not to be taken lightly."

And that's all Nathan has to say before he cautiously and slowly opens the door to the lab room so that he may head inside and see what secrets of the past modern technology has revealed instead of obscuring.  (Though if Terra and Ventus happen to be wondering what Laurelin meant by that Rampardos, Nathan will also say that they can talk about that later.)

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

At the lab

I assume Windos' character(s) are also present at Laurelin's lab.

You meet Laurelin at her office. She shows you to a hallway near Genesect's door, bound with heavy steel locks and a compression wheel.
"It's... it's nothing like what I imagined. I... I'm pretty sure it worked correctly, though that revivification machine will never be the same again. And the thing seems shy; it's seeking cover and shelter a lot. The strength... it can lift entire boulders and rearrange them to suit its own purposes. I think the only reason it hasn't shaken this lab to its roots is because it doesn't want to, regardless of the safety mechanisms I put in place. It's actually a sort of calm strength, you could call it. I've fed it an entire barrel of cloned meat but it hasn't been the least bit aggressive so far."

A few tendrils of humid mist rolls out from under the door.

"Even out here, I imagine that I can feel the power flowing from this primal creature. It makes that Rampardos look like a Slowpoke."

Nathan nods to Laurelin.  "If it's calm, that's good.  Really good.  Thank you, Professor.  If something goes wrong, then I'll do my best to deal with the situation quickly and keep it contained."

Before he does anything else, though, Nathan looks to Terra and Ventus with concern of varying kinds.  "I'm gonna go talk with it now.  Terra, if you're coming in with me, please don't bring your bug in with you, at least initially.  Genesect are very competitive and territorial from what I know, and we don't need a competition right this moment."  (And if Terra has the Hauberk now, that would be very reassuring backup for Nathan should something go wrong)

"Ventus...well, I have a feeling you'll want to see this Legend for yourself, but...please be careful if you do.  After what happened on Garlicburg...well, I can't help but worry.  If you feel faint for any reason, please take a moment to breathe away from the overwhelming presence.  I don't need to tell you this, but Creshire's truly Legendary powers are not to be taken lightly."

(...)

Considering that at least a half a week's past up until this point, let's assume for narrative and pacing shake that Terra has obtained the Hauberk and has become its current Wielder in that interim time, but he's not going to tell anyone about it until it need be used or revealed. He is reluctant about revealing and using it both in general and unnecessarily, doesn't want either Nathan or Ventus pressuring him about it in ANY way, and he was not exactly happy with their (Nathan and Ven's) most recent urgings for him to take the Artifact, so he's keeping mum about it and the details of how he got it for now (And the reveal of which post Meeting with Primal Genesect can be used to play out the Event in a Narrative Flashback). Rest assured though that if things with Primal Genesect start to go wrong, he will use it in the group's defense.

Moving on, both the sagely monk and the eccentric researcher indeed wanted to meet the Revived primal diety bug. The former out of his intense and pertinent interest in the Genesect and to gather all the data he can from the Primal Variant for his own research, and the later out of equally intense personal reasons to see it and judge if they (everyone) has done well and good to honor the memory of Silverfish and all other mistreated/exploited Genesects. Oh, and both because....well, it's a Ancient Cheshire Legendary Pokemon they helped to Revive - how could they not want to see the fruits of everyone's collective labor?

The Lore Master's almost pleading warning causes Terra's stoicism to twitch into a frown and a grimace - both the reminder and what he was reminded of - and then it is followed up with a slow nod. He then turns over to Dr. Laurelin, plucks Arete's Nautical Apricorn and whispers a 'Be good' to it, and presents it to her.

"Hold for me, until I say not to. Do not open or study it. Will not be responsible for what happens if you ignore me."

He says this gruffly but not unkindly to the Fossil Lady, before he turns and gives Nathan a solemn nod of his head. He's ready now.

Ventus, on the other hand, gives the young hero a very wane smile and tilts his head toward them with glimmering, steely eyes.

"Regardless of exactly what excitement I had on our vacation, rest assure that it will not poorly or unduly reflect on our.....meeting with our hopefully new friend. I was not.....adequately prepared for all the wondrous merriment that caught us all up in its whimsy, but now? I am. As for this Genesect's effervescent might.....need I not remind you of our last encounter with that mother dearest deep below and how I did then? I will be fine, so do not worry Nate....."

He placed a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder as he finished speaking, leaning in closer to them a bow with a smile most comforting.

"*Chuckles* That, and no matter how glorious and magnificent this Genesect splendor is, it will never be equal to the feelings I hold for my Silverfish. Nor to the revelations and wonder I had bearing witness to my own faith's gods, when I once was a dear companion to my old friend."

Those words were heard only by Nathan in the barest whisper, despite Ven showing no signs of speaking at all. Somehow. The orange haired scientist's expression, however, was sharp and coy for a mere moment, before it was back to 'normal' . 

"*Straightens back up, and Claps!*  Alright, that's enough chewing the fat! Let us greet the reborn Legend and make friends it, shall we?"

[Iron]

Solomon agrees, based on some of the philosophies and jargon the Scimitars use.

[Iron]

The double doors slide aside on their opposite tracks. More mist rolls up, hot with power. There is a clumsy noise as of something stony being knocked over. You wave away some of the fog before your eyes and catch your first glimpse of revivified Genesect.

It's even larger now, now that it has its hearts pumping and its muscles stiffened. The exterior is covered in small scales, tougher and finer than fish scales. They swivel a bit in the air current of the room, indicating that they are quite versatile. Its four long arms are supplemented by twin rows of very small, very densely packed pseudolegs. They twitch and flow like waves on a pond or the seaweed beneath.

Genesect is hunkered down over a cracked boulder, part of the terrarium Laurelin built for it. Its scales have become almost the exact color of the boulder, and only the excited buzzing of its vestigial wings makes it obvious where the mon is in the mist.

When you enter, it suddenly rocks backward onto its thick haunches, bearing the stone with it and hiding partially behind it.

Laurelin's voice comes over the intercom. "Pure Bug type. This is one of the most thorough revivifications to ever take place. Our places in history are assured."