Yurimon - Main IC

[Elfbird]

OOC thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?493354-Yurimon-OOC)
Roll20 (https://app.roll20.net/join/1507070/cIjrXQ)
Shipping chart (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VhfZ4A_AH0a-Pkxn30PY1lF9msy9fStwUJr7GFpc5Vk/edit?usp=sharing)
Questionnaires (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14s6_lN3mN7Lym9fYRPG0mCykRHIYbN7NQldqcqkVieI/edit?usp=sharing)


Verdanturf has always been a small town, even in the days before the war. Being nestled in the shadow of the mountains spared it from the worst of the bombs, and once the soldiers died it didn't take long for the residents to raise shacks and lean-tos, even restore a few of the permanent buildings.

Current population: about 200 humans and as many Pokemon, most of whom have Pokeballs to sleep in.
Government: a counsel of town elders and war veterans arbitrate disputes, approve hunting/looting trips, and make decisions that affect the town. Things mostly run themselves; everyone knows their role and what needs to be done, and coordinate in small groups rather than needing official oversight.
- Diana Morris is the de facto mayor; she's been in Verdanturf as long as anyone remembers, and people gladly follow her grandmotherly manner and wise judgement.

The town's two greatest assets are these:
- Control of the Rusturf Tunnel, which protects their north and west sides from the violent bandit gangs based in Rustboro's bombed-out ruins while allowing the Verdanturfers to stage raids in the same direction. A palisade built of wood, mountain stone, and concrete rubble surrounds the rest of the town, buffering it from nomadic bandits and wild Pokemon incursions.
- A mostly-intact Pokemon Center. Although it requires a great deal of power to operate the recovery machines - an effort involving all of the town's Electric Pokemon, solar cells, and manual generators - the fact that they have them at all has saved many a life.

They get water from the few Water Pokemon in the town, supplemented by a deep well inside Rusturf Tunnel.
Food sources include mushrooms grown in the tunnel, a few berry plants, whatever hunting parties can bring back, and the fruits of an old injured Tropius who resides in town. Some wild Pokemon are eaten [compare them to real-world foods], but it is done only out of necessity. Companion Pokemon are generally considered "part of the family" due to the invaluable services they provide, and not raised as livestock.

Daily activities include guarding the palisade and tunnel; growing, preparing, and preserving food; taking care of the Pokemon; crafting tools and supplies for repair work and everyday use; working to salvage or repair infrastructure, equipment, and things recovered from the cities; hunting outside the walls; and other such activities as you can imagine.

It takes about 8 hours on foot to reach either Mauville to the east or Rustboro to the west, moving at a comfortable pace.


K would have told everyone about Oldale, but given her tendency to embellish the truth, what she said might not have been 100% accurate.
Oldale is a fortified settlement hidden in the woods, similar to Verdanturf but faring somewhat better - they have easy access to agriculture (including wheat and rye) in the woods, and potters and masons crafting superior brickworks compared to Verdanturf's stacked-rubble barriers and wooden lean-to construction.
Being far from any other settlements helps somewhat, as there's few bandits to trouble the secluded village.

A cult of semi-fanatical legendary-worshipping priestesses governs Oldale, dictating life by the "channeled will of the gods".



It started as an ordinary day in Verdanturf; at least by post-apocalyptic standards of "ordinary."

On the East Wall

Buckley, Gwen, and Hazel are on watch when a badly wounded huntress - Erin, you think her name is - stumbles out of the bushes near the gate. You can't tell if she's more bloodied from the barbed shrubs or whatever sent her sneaking home in the first place.
Her party had left on a run to Mauville a few days ago. They were due back today or tomorrow, but there's supposed to be half a dozen of them, not one...

Quickly getting Erin inside and hydrated, she haltingly tries to explain what happened while you clean her up.

"We got to Mauville around sunset two days ago. Seemed like it'd be a good run; clear skies and a breeze that'd warn us if anything nasty were nearby. Then we saw it: there, sitting on the lake, Arceus-be-damned, all of us swore it was Suicine! Like it leaped right outta those old picture books Ms. Diana keeps. Nonna' us believed our eyes, but Rose - you know her - swore she'd go after the beast.

"Soon as we go in Tentacruel formation, a buncha goons leap outta the rubble and attack us! Never heard 'em comin'! So's we're all split up and Mew knows what happen'd to the others - looked pretty bad what I saw but they're the toughest girls I know - and a couple goons with spears crack me right good 'fore I give 'em the slip. 'Course Suicune's gone by then an' I can't see half my party, but the fights quietin' down so I slink back here for help. Passed out las' night an' feelin' kinda woozy still, but I made it...!"

Erin then mumbles something about Razz berries and passes out in the arms of the people hauling her to the PokeCenter.



In the Contest Hall

Mayor Diana has gathered a small emergency meeting of the town council and a few others who overheard and joined in before the hall was sealed. Emi, Rachel, and Haku are present.
Diana begins with a grave and weary tone.

"Everyone. Something unprecedented and deeply troubling has occurred, and there is no easy way to break this news, but it is imperative that the danger be known. Last night, a number of valuables went missing from Verdanturf, and the night watch spoke of figures fleeing the tunnel toward Rustboro. There was no fighting, no signs of break-in - which means we have a thief among us.

"Please, calm yourselves! No one will be served by a witch hunt now; we rely on mutual trust and support to survive. Commander Jenny and I will personally oversee the investigation within Verdanturf's walls, so please do not trouble yourselves on that count. The true reason I called you here is to tell of one very precious item that was among those stolen.

"Many of you have seen the small wooden box that I keep in my quarters, yet I doubt you could guess at what was inside." (Not even you, my dear Kamira.)
"We hoped to keep it secret until we knew more, could do something of value before risking others to see our hand. Now that it is gone to hands of... unknown virtue, you must know how vital it is that the treasure be recovered. In truth, that box holds a piece of the Blue Orb - the very one that fueled Team Aqua's ambitions which helped sparked the war. The Elite Four of Hoenn took possession of the Three Orbs and scattered to protect them from further misuse. However, the Orbs were shattered and all but lost in the course of their flight and the chaos of the Y-Virus to follow.

"That stolen shard found its way into my safekeeping. Alone it is little more than a pretty bauble, but if the Orbs were restored, they might offer a key to renewal for our world.

"There is still a strong chance that the thieves do not know the value of that which they stole. It is best to keep it that way, but we must act. Verdanturf can spare precious few of our people and supplies, and a small team will attract less attention than a full raid on Rustboro. The risk is great; I will only accept willing volunteers for this mission, so please confer with your family and friends and come to me later with your decision. I think that a party of four to six of fair skill should grant the best odds of success without alerting the bandits to our urgency. That is all."

Diana catches Haku's eye as people begin filtering out of the contest hall, but her meaning is inscrutable.



In the PokeCenter
Mina and Victoria are in a recovery room, sleeping off injuries from a scavenge run that got aborted when a pack of starving Zigzagoon suddenly swarmed the convoy. They abandoned the cart and took out the few Zigs who opted for more meaty targets, but the initial attack left everyone pretty cut up.

You two wake to a piercing shriek; your groggy adrenaline rush makes the scene even more surreal in the dim sunlight filtered through cracks in the ceiling.
The far wall painted in still-drying blood.
Mad Doc Meera slumped on the floor.
Her Misdreavus wailing in a corner.

Nurse Lia pops in to check on the commotion, then promptly adds her own scream to the din and races out to find Nurse Joy.

On closer inspection, the writing on the wall spells out a message in a large and surprisingly legible font.

THE DEAD
DO NOT LIE.
TRUTH LIES
EA<~/^{;\___,,,




Everyone not mentioned above is going about their usual tasks, or taking an afternoon rest under a shaded canopy in the plaza. You'll easily hear all of the news before long.

What will you do?

[Mokou-tan]

Haku doesn't even take the time to think it over. It was obvious to her that she may be suspected and the former bandit could only one way to keep her name clean. With her usual, almost silent, way of moving she hurries to Diana.

"I'll go." The girl's stony demeanor remained unbroken as she spoke and she began to depart before waiting for any confirmation. She was headed to inform Kira what had happened and let her friend know she would be leaving, in case she didn't make it back.

[Esprit15]

Gwen
The blonde girl sends Vantail out to keep watch while others care for Erin. The Cacnea could handle herself for the moment that it takes to rush out, if anything should happen. Gwen listens to the retelling of what happened, but as she starts to ask about losses and whether Erin confirmed with her party before leaving, the girl passed out. Perfect.

She sighs. When the girl woke back up, they could ask her more questions, begin the plans for a search and rescue. "So, who do you think will be sent to find the remains of her group?" Gwen asks, looking at the others. "And do you think they actually saw what she said they saw?"
Pokemon Education to know more about Suicune: [roll0]

[Merilan]

Kira wasn't exactly ever far from the PokeCentre... that was where she spent most of her time. Today was inventory day -- and though she wasn't able to do the task on her own given her lack of sight, she had another nurse with her and calmly sat down as she scanned her mind, and just spoke when she pointed out medicine to her.

"Iris scissors--"
"Two."
"Toothed for--"
"Forceps, three."
"..."
"Needle holders, seven. No. 3 blade handles, four. Gallipots... three -- no, two. One of them leaked."

The nurse sighed and shook her head. "You read me faster than I can speak, Dr. Kousaka."
"Just Kira, please," Kira corrected gently. The black-haired medic held her heirloom cane a little closer--

--and then she could hear the scream; Freie immediately sprung into action, as if to defend her master.

"A moment, please," Kira spoke gently, and rose to immediately investigate, slightly hobbling along her cane. She hadn't a lame leg, but she had some slight balance issues in the way she walked... and touching the ground helped to centre her, the way she tended to scan emotions and thoughts to get a picture of where everyone was. Her mind was open, immediately trying to pick out details to gather information about the current incident.

"Nurse Lia? What happened?"

[Hailfire]

Mina

Onwards, she stumbled, through the blizzard. So long had it been since she'd seen the sun, that she didn't even feel cold any more. Ice and darkness was her world, with no end to either in sight. Still, she trudged on-

A piercing scream shattered the illusion and Mina snapped to a sitting position in an instant, ready to bolt if needed. The gloom made it difficult to see where she was, but a moment later, she pieced her surroundings together once more and remembered that she was still in Verdanturf's hospital. Looking across the room, she could immediately see the cause of the scream.

It wasn't the first body she'd seen, nor the first of someone she'd known (albeit, barely). She couldn't see how badly mutilated it was without better lighting, but she could guess from the gibberish on the wall (and how much would be used in writing it), that it wasn't pretty. An uneasy feeling welled up in her stomach and she forced herself to look away from both the body and the distraught pokemon. She was idly aware of the Nurse discovering the body and immediately running for help.

She swallowed, before addressing her fellow patient.

"You awake?"

She immediately regretted the inane question.

[Hazuki]

Buckley

Watch duty has never been Buckley's favorite duty for the town - lots of walking about and staring at exactly the same spaces for hours at a time. Normally, she occupies herself by tapping little rhythms on her shield, and spending as much time talking with the other watchgirls as she can, when their patrols pass. Nothing that would take up too much focus; she has a job to do!

When Erin appears stumbling out of the fog, Buckley is the first to jump down from her perch on the edge of town and escort her inside. It could only be made more sickeningly soppy by carrying her bridal-style inside, but Buckley knows that hauling injured people over her shoulders before they've been checked is a Very Bad Thing. She had to be told that after accidentally making Liria chuck up blood, but she still knows it!

She notices Gwen leaving Vantail behind to keep watch, and asks Lady Boner to do the same (Which she does, with a proud swagger). When Erin passes out entirely, Buckley gladly shoulders her weight with an arm around her waist, and listens to Gwen's question.

"I hope I will be! If they've hurt Erin this bad, they've got to mean business!" Buckley answers. "I don't know about Suicune, but if Erin says it was there, I believe her."

[ptdapen]

Yukike Kamira

Kamira had found the day to be boring until she overheard people going over to the Contest Hall. She lazily teleported her way over to the meeting in jolts. Inside it was obvious that the leader, Diana, would be the most interesting mind to probe from. However, either her own skills were sloppy or the mayor was exceptionally keen; the invasion failed. She brushed her hair aside and made an audible groan that those near her might have heard during the presentation. She was especially annoyed when there was something that she possibly couldn't know but for the time being she relented.

Her attention turned to the girl she had heard about, the one with the kart. She teleported over behind her and kept her big eyes on the girl. This continued even if the girl noticed her recent intrusion. All the while the psychic tried to pry inside Emi's mind for whatever juicy or useless secrets were to be found.

Regardless of the results, she came up with an idea to both annoy the mayor and potentially further her potential in the town. Kamira had the courtesy to wait until the talk was over but she did not wait for much more before she teleported up to the Diana. "Why don't you just gather everyone up and I'll probe their minds to see if they betrayed the town," Kamira suggested to her. "It'll be especially easy since everyone will cooperate. If nobody has anything to hide then surely they'll give me permission, right?" She scratched her head in a catlike fashion before continuing. "Oh and it's only fair if I was compensated, right?" In truth she did not care much for any reward for what she offered; she just wanted to see everybody's reaction for it.

Emi! I need you to contest my Focus roll with your own! [roll0]

[Revenant9]

A scream pierced through the blanket of deep blackness that enveloped Victoria. With a start, colors rushed in. Too many colors. She blinked hard. What on earth? She thought, unsettled by the way she was woken. Adrenalin coursed through her body, even as it responded sluggishly, urging her to act. She had to find the source of the scream and so she looked around on what she quickly recognized as a hospital bed. It didn't take long before she was able to find the reason for the the noise and commotion.

The first thing she saw was the blood. It was all over the wall. Arceus, Victoria couldn't help but think. What kind of mad person actually writes in the blood of their victims? The dead do not lie. Truth lies, Ea... The sight of these strange words left her feeling nervous and cold. This sensation was only intensified once she looked at the body below the writing. From her perspective, she was luckily spared an insight into just how mutilated the body must have been, but she could imagine anyway. The horrors that her mind cooked up were fueled by her experiences with minor and bad injuries in the field. In her mind's eye, she could see her partners go from being injured to being absolutely savaged, a shadowy being dipping their hands in the blood and writing nonsensical words with it.

Mina's voice shifted Victoria's focus. "Yeah... I'm awake," she responded automatically. Even as she spoke though, a question resounded within her mind. Who did this? Who is Ea?

Well, I'm not going to find out sitting here on this bed. Victoria moved off the bed, happy to realize that her injuries had healed overnight. The actual events of the previous day however were far from her mind. What did losing one cart matter in comparison to a murder within the safety of Verdanturf's walls?

Questions were burning within Victoria's mind, but her gut feeling had never been great and no instinctive answers were coming forth. I need more information, she concluded. She'd seen poor Lia go and run off, most likely to find Nurse Joy. Perhaps she would know more about the current state of the camp. All Victoria would have to do was wait. Idly she wondered whether she should say something more to Mina. She decided she didn't have anything in particular to say to her and so said nothing.

Victoria sat back down on the bed and waited. Huh, I guess I am going to find out sitting here on this bed.

General Education check to see if Victoria recognizes the name Ea: [roll0]

[The Walrus]

K was chilling out under the canopy in Verdanturf's main plaza, when she spotted a certain one-armed girl come running up to the rest area. Although K couldn't quite remember the girl's name, he did know that she was the best source of information about any of the scavenging missions that went on outside the city, after the scavengers themselves of course. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she began to speak.

"Erin's returned from the trip to Mauville, but not with any of the others. She's hurt, badly. Buckley's bringing her to the center."

It looked like the girl might have had more to say, but K was off her feet and rocketing towards the town's combination PokeCenter/hospital before any more could be heard. The words "Erin", "hurt", and "center" had registered in K's mind, and everything else was unimportant. K quickly made her way to center and ran full-tilt down the corridors towards the recovery room. Memories of warnings not to run that fast indoors and especially not in a hospital briefly impinged upon the martial artists' thoughts, but then she saw Nurse Lia running in the center too and was reassured that charging through hallways filled with sensitive equipment and sometimes patients being moved was totally okay.

K entered the door of the recovery room.

"Vic? Other person? Small ghost thing? What's going on here?"

Without waiting for a response, K bent down to examine Doc Meera.


If Meera doesn't have obviously fatal injuries, K will try to see if she's still alive, placing her hand over the fallen doctor's mouth to feel for breathing, and attempting to find a pulse and/or heartbeat. Roll for medicine education: [roll0].

If Meera appears to still be alive:
K will charge back out of the room and try to find where Nurse Lia went, saying "Hey, wait, come back! She's still alive! Do your medicine thing on her!"

If Meera appears dead:
K will immediately try to find the nearest writing supplies (shouldn't be too difficult, I assume there are charts kept around for different patients) and return to the recovery room. She will then copy down the message written on the wall as exactly as possible.

[Nyna]

Emi Konda

Emi would frown a bit as she listened, a couple of fingers on one cheek as she was a bit lost in thought. If this was really true, then someone from inside Verdanturf was behind the theft? While that might be the most likely reason, it didn't mean it had to be that way... it was always possible that the robbers had managed to do this on their own, and had just gotten lucky. Or perhaps they had enlisted the aid of a ghost or psychic pokemon. Either way, it felt like they were jumping a bit to conclusions...

But it'd be best to go and discuss this with someone else first. Emi wasn't exactly the type to go out on a raid, after all! With that thought in mind, she'd step out of the contest hall, intending to discuss all of this with Meian... only to hear the scream off in the distance from the pokecenter as she moved away from the contest hall. When it rains, it pours... Emi would rush on over to the pokecenter, thoughts of this theft set aside for the moment as she moved to investigate...

Focus roll for mind reading stuff: [roll0]

[Mura-neechan]

Meian Tensaiji

The girl would find herself... not doing much of anything, as she'd quietly relax with Fila. Laying at a tree with the Ponyta resting next to her, Meian was casually munching on one of the berries she'd grabbed when she was last out for her supply run. She had to wait a bit before she could hassle Emi, and she didn't feel like getting in any trouble, especially with that last scavenging convey. Not being part of the real townfolk meant that there was some rough tendencies between them, and while Meian did feel welcome enough, she wasn't planning on engaging too heavily with the rest of the populous. The girl frownedd a bit, as she tssed a berry to catch it in her mouth, groaning as it bounced off her face and rolled into the grass, where Fila scooped it up. About to express her annoyance, Meian found her like of thought completely derailed from that loud series of screams by the Pokemon Center. Quickly bounding herself up, Fila was already reacting well, dashing to
Meian's side, as the girl launched herself up and onto the Ponyta's back, letting fingers stroke the side of the Pokemon's neck.

"Emi. Alright, hero-time~! Mission, save Emi!"

Without a second thought, Meian was bolting towards the Pokemon Center to figure out what was going on and make sure her girlfriend was safe and secure. It might have seemed a little overprotective, especially as Meian hadn't even clearly heard the screams... but the fact that anyone was screaming was more a sign of the deeper problem. If someone was in trouble, Emi would make it her trouble. That made it Meian's trouble.

[Revenant9]

Now that K was here and examining the doctor's body, Victoria felt like a heel, having been awake for this long and not having investigated herself. What if the doctor was still alive? Would it be Victoria's fault if she died? All because she'd assumed that the victim of this attack couldn't possibly still be living.

Victoria swallowed and got off the bed again to join K in looking at Dr Meera. If nothing else, maybe she could get some clues towards what had been done to her at least. Perhaps that would enable Victoria to get a lead on who was responsible.

"It's... it's a good thing you came K. I'd written the doctor off as dead already, I hadn't even checked the body," Victoria admitted quietly as she too bent down next to K, not close enough to disturb K's actions, but close enough to have a better look at Dr Meera's body, searching for signs of life, and also looking at the injuries and trying to discern what could have caused them.

"To answer your question, we don't know what's going on yet. I'm hoping Nurse Joy will have some ideas."

Medicine Ed to look for signs of life and to find possible causes of the injuries: [roll0]

[Merilan]

It didn't take long for Kira to glance at Nurse Lia's impressions, and she walked at a more sedate pace towards the recovery room. She'd let the nurse go off to find Nurse Joy, but she needed to do her own duty.

The blind doctor moved into the room, her cane softly tapping as she walked; she sensed a number of presences in the room, some familiar -- Victoria. "Victoria," she started, as she slowly moved to a kneel beside both her and K. Mina and K were not... unfamiliar, certainly -- they gave off a likely sensation of people who'd lived in Verdanturf for a while. "Please, allow me to..."

She extended her hand, and quietly inspected the fallen doctor. Without the blessing of vision, she relied on her other senses -- scent, touch, hearing, and, of course, her sixth sense as she attuned herself into what the others were seeing. The moment she senses life, she'll do everything in her power as a doctor to bring her out of danger.


Kira has Telepathic and, if allowed, wants to help see the situation through Victoria's thoughts; she's also using her other senses to investigate.

Medical Education check: [roll0]

If Doctor Meera is still alive, she'll waste no time in applying first aid and resuscitation techniques as necessary -- draining 1 AP to use first aid on her:

[roll1]

[Revenant9]

Victoria heard the tapping of a cane and saw Kira approach out of the corner of her eyes. She was rather glad that a real medical professional was on scene and shuffled a little to allow Kira space to interact with Dr. Meera.

Kira didn't finish her sentence, but Victoria could tell what she was asking. "Go ahead," she said calmly. Then, knowing more or less what was required of her, she turned back to the slumped body on the floor, trying to give Kira as full an image of what she could see as possible. She tried to pick up as many details as she could with her limited knowledge of what to look for.

Victoria had always somewhat admired Kira's inner strength. It was quite an achievement for someone who was blind to become a doctor, even if they gained the advantage of telepathy. Victoria was sure that many others, most likely including herself, would have given up on the difficult training and study, but Kira had persevered (not that Victoria thought being a doctor was better than being a blacksmith). It was partly out of respect for this, that Victoria so easily allowed Kira into her mind. Of course Victoria and Kira had grown up in this camp together and so there was already a certain kinship between them which made the decision to let her mind be read even easier for Victoria, although honestly in a situation like this, Victoria didn't actually think about these things before literally giving the go ahead, the current situation was too dire for that. These were more like subconscious thought processes that occurred in the back of her mind.

[Hailfire]

Mina

Entirely out of her depths, Mina remained on the bed, uncertain as to what she should do. The vague desire to put some distance between her and the body welled up inside her (and it was almost certainly a body; you'd be hard pressed to survive losing that much blood without medical help... and in the time it'd take someone to write the stuff on the wall?), but she held fast. Leaving would make her look suspicious and she had no clue if there was anyone who would testify that she was asleep.

"Yeah. I'll, uh, stick over here. I'd just get in the way."

[The Walrus]

"Uh, I guess you two have this under control."

K backed off to give Kira some space, then rushed outside the room, and came back with the first piece of paper - be it a medical chart or blank page torn out of the end of a textbook - and pen she could find. She copied down the writing on the wall as quickly as possible, muttering each word out loud to herself.

"The...Dead..Do..Not..Lie..Truth...Lies...uh... sometimes I forget how to spell a word, but I've never got it that wrong before. Wait, is that supposed to be 'Eastward'? Of course! It's all coming together!"

Since Victoria and Kira were occupied, K turned towards Mina.

"You probably haven't heard about this yet, but Erin just came back from the trip to Mauville, and she's really hurt, and I'm not sure if anyone else came back with her! Since Mauville is to the east of here, whatever happened there and this writing are obviously connected somehow!"

[gmoyes]

Rachel Matthews- Contest Hall

Rachel was always close when a town meeting was announced. It helped that she literally lived in the Contest Hall. They had re-purposed a couple of dressing and storage rooms into living quarters for herself and Mom. It certainly helped her stay on top of important events in town.

Mayor Diana lead the meeting, telling those who had gathered that something had been stolen from her, a shard of the Blue Orb that Team Aqua used to control Kyogre. The thief had gotten in without causing much of a disturbance, but was seen escaping through the Rusturf Tunnel. Rachel frowned when the mayor said that restoring the orbs could help in the rebuilding of the region. "Or they may bring a sh**ton of natural disasters our way like they did last time," she muttered skeptically.

Still, it didn't bode well. If that was all the thief stole, then they knew exactly what was in that box. Rachel had a hunch that the thief might be a remnant of the old Team Aqua. It would make sense if they were going to try to continue their mission even now. It may be a good idea to track down the thief simply so they can't gather all of them, but Rachel didn't feel a particular draw to doing this mission. A raid implied fighting which she wanted to avoid and if it was Team Aqua, then her ground typed Apex would be a poor match-up. And she didn't have a particular reason to head towards Rustboro.

After checking in with her mother to get her opinion on the matter (ooc: anything she'd know as a counsel member or as trainer all those years ago), Rachel left the hall to see the word spread. It turned out that the theft wasn't the only major news around the town today. There was some sort of commotion by the Pokemon Center and there was a rumour that Suicune was spotted near Mauville. "What are the chances that all of this would happen all on the same day?" she muttered to herself. "But a Suicune, huh? That would solve our water issues without resorting to typhooning the place." She went to track down the source of the Suicune report and made sure to spread word of volunteers needed to track down the thief, all the while thinking about the legends that have been brought up today..

Edu Pokemon for Kyogre:[roll0]
Edu Pokemon for Suicune: [roll1]

[Matanui3]

After keeping watch for a few minutes after Erin was taken away, to make sure she hadn't been followed, Hazel abandons her post, hearing the greater commotion in the town below.

Hearing about the events of the morning, and K's theory that the writing on the wall mentions "eastward", Hazel decides it's time to do something.

"It sounds like things are going down over in Mauville. We need to get a party out there to rescue those hunters! Who's with me?"

Perception roll to find hiding bandits: [roll0]

[Elfbird]

Yukike KamiraRegardless of the results, she came up with an idea to both annoy the mayor and potentially further her potential in the town. Kamira had the courtesy to wait until the talk was over but she did not wait for much more before she teleported up to the Diana. "Why don't you just gather everyone up and I'll probe their minds to see if they betrayed the town," Kamira suggested to her. "It'll be especially easy since everyone will cooperate. If nobody has anything to hide then surely they'll give me permission, right?" She scratched her head in a catlike fashion before continuing. "Oh and it's only fair if I was compensated, right?" In truth she did not care much for any reward for what she offered; she just wanted to see everybody's reaction for it.
Diana gives Kamira an affectionate pat on the head and a smile that says "what a nice girl, but no."
"Such methods have been used from time to time throughout history, and the result is always tragic. If we use mind-reading to find the guilty, then next we will be tempted to use it to predict guilt, and then to police thoughts, and then to take people's individuality 'for their own good.' Where does it end? No, your powers are truly remarkable, Kamira, and it's kind of you to want to help, but we must do this the old-fashioned way for the sake of our trust in one another. However, perhaps you and Belka can assist the recovery team..." Diana trails off with a sly, almost wicked smirk at the thought of unleashing a telepath on the bandits.



General Education check to see if Victoria recognizes the name Ea: [roll0]
You don't know anyone in town whose name begins with "Ea". A few words do, though...


Legendary knowledge:
- Suicune is known as the North Wind, and for purifying bodies of contaminated water. In the Arcean Pantheon, xe is one of the Legendary Dog trio alongside Entei the volcano and Raikou the storm. Every now and then you hear rumors of sightings, but nothing to substantiate such claims since prewar times.
- Kyogre is the primordial god of the sea. Over twenty years ago, Kyogre and its counterpart, Groudon of the land, were awoken and fought viciously, one of the events that sparked the war. Rayquaza, god of the sky, turned the two against human weapons until their injuries became so great that all three vanished - presumably back to their deeply hidden lairs.



In the PokeCenter
Meera is still alive, but unconscious from blood loss. There's a scalpel lying on the floor near her.
Nurse Joy arrives a few moments later and takes control of the situation. She applauds all of you for your quick thinking and medical talent - recording the message was a good idea too.
"Dr. Meera was always a bit strange and, well... morbid. This was most likely by her own hand, I'm afraid, although with everything else going on today... Well, we have enough to worry about without imagining more problems. Thank you again; Lia and I will take care of Dr. Meera from here."
They set Meera on a gurney and move her to a different room, leaving the group alone. The Mad Doc's Misdreavus floats along after her owner, almost... sniggering?



People in Verdanturf are trusted with a good deal of autonomy; the guard especially is expected to organize their own missions, so long as the council has a chance to confirm the agenda. The medical team, too, is available for drafting whenever an excursion wants field medics.
By now, all of you are at least vaguely aware of the three problems - thefts to the west, disappearances to the east, and Meera's oddly foreboding message - and are free to arrange yourselves or call on others to volunteer toward one cause or another.
The situation in Verdanturf itself is stable, between Diana and Jenny and Joy.

Team Westward:
Haku

Team Eastward:
Buckley
Hazel
Rachel
K

Unassigned:
Gwen
Kira
Mina
Kamira
Victoria
Emi
Meian

[Mokou-tan]

Haku heads straight for the Pokecenter on the assumption that Kira will be there like usual. She quietly enters the main room in time to see Meera being transported out. Looking around she got the gist of what was going on here, though she didn't bother with the missing bits of the word. The former bandit's teal eyes fix on the blind doctor. She slowly approaches, a bit nervous with the large amount of people present, even if her face didn't show it.

"Kira... If you have a moment...?" As Haku speaks, she keeps an eye on the others. While she doesn't truly suspect any of them as the chance of the thief being any one person was roughly 1/200, being caught off guard by that .5% chance could be dangerous.

[Merilan]

Kousaka Kira

Kira was cleaning up after her inspection and timely intervention of Doctor Meera's incident when Haku approached her. She turned with a quiet smile, leaning on her cane for a moment to say, "Yes, what is it...?"

[Mokou-tan]

Since Haku had snuck into what was basically a town council meeting, she wasn't sure how public the full details were going to be. Glancing around at any others in the room, she shakes her head.

"Private..." Haku's words are often this short, though the meaning should be clear to Kira, as Haku and her had been friends for a little while now.

[Merilan]

Kousaka Kira

Kira nodded for a moment, then called a nurse over to take over her current duties for her; she'd seemed to have finished up by then anyway, remarkably able to write on a noteboard to finish her inventorying. "Please forward this to Nurse Joy, and let her know. I've made my own comments on expected consumption on the margins as well."

With that said, the dark-haired doctor stepped towards a consultation room with a small smile. "Something tells me... you will be leaving the village again, are you not?"

[Esprit15]

Gwen, seeing some of her friends and guard members mentioning rescuing the rest of Erin's group, attempts to gather everyone interested together.

[ptdapen]

Yukike Kamira

Kamira had found the KondaKart gal's mind to be boring to pry into. Emi had only thought of the theft itself; no juicy, hidden secrets had been gleamed in that moment. How typical; all she cares about is what the mayor is saying. the psychic had reflected on it. The bond had broken as soon as the medic left the building and thus she was spared from further intrusion.

The telepath hissed after being petted on the head. She teleported away a meter away and wiped her head as if to shake off Diana's influence. "Not everything is a slippery slope," she whined. "It's not like I wanted to help either; I was... nevermind." She crossed her arms and decided to leave the building with her own two legs. Going after the thieves was not an appealing notion to her. It felt to her as a dangerous prospect without much payoff. The only aspect that could change it if somebody that interested her went out there.

Her pondering was interrupted by the word of commotion at the Pokemon Center. She sauntered over by means of teleportation to appraise the situation with her own eyes. The glass doors were no matter to her; she went through the window without a second thought. Kamira had a sudden insistence on courtesy though; last time she had barged into the back of the center one of the nurses chased after her a rolled up packet of paper.

Therefore, the psychic decided to wait until someone approached her. It was her assumption that somebody would be interested in someone as great as she is. She sent out her Espurr, Belka, and sat down to be closer on the same level. "Hey cutie, it's time to play your favorite game!" It was a rare occurrence to see Kamira so happy and cheerful. Her Pokemon smiled a little bit before they began their staring contest.

[The Walrus]

K waited impatiently at the Eastern gate. Now that she knew the message was from Doc Meera and it wasn't some sort of reverse psychology trick by a murderer who wanted people to go east when they really needed to go west, K was confident that heading out to find the missing hunters and/or Suicune was the right thing to do. Also, facing a single group of bandits was probably less dangerous than trying to inflitrate an entire city of them. She had made certain to inform Joan, the forewoman of the construction crew, of her plans by shouting out "Hi Joan I'm going on a quest to find Suicune and Erin's teammates and won't be here to move stones around for a while bye" as K ran past her on her way to the gate.

Although K had initially planned to leave immediately, she considered that the thugs Erin had spoken of must have been strong enough to take on half a dozen capable scouts and their Pokemon, and her courage flagged when she stared across the horizon at the uncertain dangers twixt Verdanturf and Mauville. Maybe it would be better to wait and see how many other people wanted to go on this mission.

[Mokou-tan]

Haku gives a nod as she steps in, taking a seat. She feels a lot less on guard once it becomes just her and Kira.

"There was a meeting... Diana had a part of the blue orb... Small part... Stolen... Someone in town assisted..." Haku's issues with talking at length were public knowledge, each section of words having a bit of a pause between them. It wasn't that she didn't have the capability of speaking more, but more that speaking was something she wasn't comfortable with. Since it was Kira here, Haku wasn't going to resist her telepathy if she wanted the full story. In fact, it sometimes made conversations easier since all the littler girl had to do was think.

[Merilan]

Kira nodded, and gracefully concentrated and went into a reverie for a moment. "I see..."

She tilted her head to gently smile, after that period. It looked like she was making a decision, one she'd come to quite clearly. Then she said: "Then, I would like to go with you." Freie looked up as well, letting out a little barking noise and loyally sitting up by her master's side. "The journey will no doubt be perilous, and you'll need someone to care for your wounds... if you would have me?"

[gmoyes]

Rachel Matthews- Eastern Gate

Soon enough Rachel got to Verdanturf's gate to Route 117. This is where the hunter, Erin, was found. She discovered that Erin had been rushed off to the Pokemon Center by a couple of the younger guards, Buckely, Gwen and Hazel. She was passingly familiar with them that she figured that at the very least they'd want to find out what happen to Erin. They'd be here soon enough on the warpath and Rachel figured that her cooler head would be beneficial. Who knows, maybe these bandits may be willing to listen to reason?

Heading onward towards Mauville would be interesting. The city was the hub of the region, routes headed in all directions. Anyone looking to get from one end of Hoenn to the other would have to pass by it. If there was anyone who has made the ruins home, they'd probably have all sorts of tales and rumours from other areas. And it was pretty much a clear shot down to Slateport to check out the hall there. But then again, it depended on where this wild legendary chase when.

While waiting, Rachel released her partner to prepare for the trek. "Well here we Apex. We're heading out into the wilderness." The Baltoy didn't give much in response, but it hardly ever did. Mostly the ground type just spun a slow circle scanning the area. "Ok, I know you ever know what you might see, but we need to be prepared. Get a move on!" The Baltoy's rotation speed increased while it floated in the air and started tilting its axis at different angles. Rachel developed this training method to help deflect blows coming at her Pokemon.

Getting Inspired Training up and running.

As other trainers approached the gate Rachel waved them over. "Hey gals, don't forget to get your Pokemon limbered up before we leave. We don't want to be caught by surprise out there and this is last safe place for a while." Amusingly enough, this isn't the first fitness training class Rachel's lead. One of the many ways her perfomance skills have served the town.

[Mokou-tan]

Haku looks a little surprised, a rare thing indeed. For a moment she considers trying to dissuade her friend, but understands that Kira had already made her mind up.

"I worry... But, if not, you'll worry... Of course I'll have you." Haku chuckles softly to herself. It was a nice feeling for her, knowing someone would worry about her. Back during her life as a bandit, if you got hurt or died, that was just how it was. You were a bit too weak to survive, that was all. But, here she actually had managed to form a bit of an attachment to people.

[Esprit15]

"Vantail warmed up earlier," Gwen says to the other trainer as they reach Rachel. "You ready to leave today, or do you have things that need to be done first?"

[Merilan]

Kira

Kira nodded in return, reaching her hand out for Haku for a moment. Even if she could glance it off her mind, she wanted the ex-bandit to reach out for herself to help her out. "We should be prepared, and find some others who will go with us. Perhaps Tori will accompany us... hmm... did you have anyone else in mind? I can try arranging things with the others if not."

[Mokou-tan]

Haku stands and gently grasps Kira's hand, happy to guide her friend out. With a flick of her wrist, she released her Nincada, Rin.

"Clear the way." It was a simple command, telling Rin to move anything on the floor that may trip Kira. "You should pick... Talk better.... Don't forget to warm up..." Though Haku didn't say it, she also didn't have any other relationships she feels she could really call on to assist. Haku's reminder to warm up was partially for her own sake, as Rin did a lot better with a warm up, as did other Pokemon involved in her warm up sessions.

[Merilan]

Kira

Kira had someone in mind already -- as she stepped back and out to the PokeCentre, she looked to the recovery room again in search of Victoria earlier. She knew Victoria since they were little, and she'd trusted her skills -- she was handy with a sword and knives, and she was a reliable blacksmith as well. She knew she'd probably be interested in the scraps that they could find outside as well.

If the doctor can find her, she'll walk up to her gently to say, "Haku and I are forming an entourage west to retrieve an important stolen item from Mayor Diana. Would you like to accompany us...?"

In public space, it'd be easy for the others around the PokeCentre to listen in on the offer.

[gmoyes]

Rachel Matthews- Eastern Gate

Rachel gave a grin in response to Gwen. "Well I wasn't planning on having a farewell tour. Nah, as soon as Apex is finished getting revved up we should be good to go." She gave a gesture to the Baltoy who was currently spinning a couple of feet above their heads flipping end over end. "The young one's got a lot of energy." Seeing as Claydol reproduce asexually her partner was one of the youngest creatures in town. It was a small bit of pride and envy for her.

The trainer eyed the gate for a moment and gave a bit of a sigh. "I haven't been out of the town much. Mom's told me a lot about her time travelling as a trainer and while I do want to follow in her footsteps, it's difficult to leave home. Especially when I've put so much work into it trying to fix it up and cheer it up. Still, there are more people out there that may need my help. And these stories of legends like Suicune running around..." she paused to give a smile. "It's kinda exciting to think about."

[The Walrus]

K wandered over to where Gwen and Rachel were talking.

"Hey, are you two going out to look for the missing hunters too? That's cool. Let's see... you're Gwen, right? Gwen the guard. That's easy to remember! And you. You're uh... actually, I don't know your name, but I think I might have heard you sing before. I like your Baltoy, though! It reminds me of these toy tops my mother makes which look like Baltoys. Me and some other kids called them "Battle-Balts" 'cause we used to spin them into each other to see which designs were the best at knocking over the other tops. It turned out that tops with four arms are more stable than tops with only two arms, so I bet if your Baltoy ever evolves, it'll grow extra arms! Oh, and my name is K. K the construction worker."

[Matanui3]

As Hazel joins the others gathering at the eastern gate, she calls out to Thumper to meet up with her once more from its position blocking the entrance with the Arena Trap ability (which, thankfully, did not require it to dig a sand pit - such a course of action merely helped).

"Thumper and I warmed up earlier. We're ready to go when you are."

Watching as the other girl's baltoy continued it's spinning, Hazel did a few extra stretches for good measure, while her Trapinch contented itself with snapping its jaw at the flying top.


Brutal training up, of course. Hazel's trained stats: Attack and Defense.

[Esprit15]

"K. Should be easy to remember. Well, you know me, and this is Vantail. She'll be the one putting holes in things that decide to mess with us," Gwen says, looking out at the path ahead of them. "Are we ready to go, then? We're burning daylight."

[Hailfire]

Mina

Thoroughly corrected by the Nurse's announcement, Mina finally pushed herself out of bed and stretched her legs. The scratches she'd sustained yesterday were little more than a bad memory.

She spent some time just... Walking. Every day that passed, Verdanturf seemed more and more claustrophobic. Even for a small-ish settlement, it was especially close knit. That made her uneasy. In places like Lilycove, you knew where you stood. Here? She honestly just couldn't tell. Whereas she felt perfectly fine leeching off some of the less pleasant settlements until she'd worn out her welcome, staying here felt like she was being a burden (despite contributing what she could). Over the last few weeks, it felt like she'd take nearly any excuse to distance herself from the increasingly familiar buildings.

Her gaze was drawn to the eastern gate, as she recalled the words of that girl from earlier. She couldn't say she was particularly fond of the rest of the scavengers, but bandits were always bad news. If they were doing a search and rescue, they'd probably want as much help as they could get.

And hey, who knew? If they ran into those bandits, nobody could possibly mind if she took a couple valuables off the bodies.

Having made a decision, Mina made her way to the eastern gate. Spotting the burgeoning group wasn't difficult; you didn't see many bald people around here.

"Hey, uh..."

It's 'K', right? That's what she just told the other girl

"K...? Overheard that guys were going out for search an' rescue. Think you could use another warm body."

[Revenant9]

Victoria wasn't sure how to feel, knowing that Meera had done this to herself. She almost couldn't believe someone would cut themselves up with a scalpel to what... be noticed? Send a message? Well she did send a message, one that Victoria hadn't figured out because she stumbled over that last word. Good thing K was here to figure it out.

Victoria sighed and decided to let this go. From the snippets of conversation she could hear in the suddenly rather busy Pokemon Center, it seemed bigger things were happening in the village.

Just as she thought that, Victoria was approached by Kira again. An important item from Mayor Diana? If someone stole it, it was probably bandits... This was the first Victoria had heard of that. Staying isolated in the Pokemon Center had its disadvantages. Only select pieces of information had made it into there. Still, despite not really knowing what they were after, if someone needed her help, Victoria wasn't going to refuse. That kind of behavior was ingrained into her after growing up in Verdanturf where everyone was needed for something. "Sure, I'm in," she said. She grabbed her weapons, backpack and Pokeball from where they'd been thoughtfully placed near her hospital bed. If they were going to fight bandits, maybe Victoria could bring some loot back in addition to finding whatever it was that had been stolen. Speaking of which, "What exactly was stolen?"

[Hazuki]

Buckley shows up at the Eastern gate to find the missing hunters.

[Merilan]

Certainly, Kira hadn't forgotten about Doctor Meera, but she couldn't just say 'no' to a request from Haku, and she had a hunch something bothersome was happening... as with a lot of everything within her life, she had to rely so much on intuition.

"From what Haku told me, it was a piece of a blue orb, one of three orbs that could be instrumental in regenerating the world," Kira spoke frankly and firmly. There was no need to embellish nor downplay what was at stake -- if the Mayor told that to people, then they had a prerogative to believe it too. "I cannot say I've heard the story, but it was apparently instrumental in our recent past..."

She reached her hand forward to Victoria, perhaps intent on patting her shoulder. "Thank you, Tori. It will be reassuring to know we'll have your abilities on the road. I should find at least another to come with us... any ideas...?"

[Revenant9]

Victoria's eyes widened a little when it was made clear to her what the quarry they were searching for was. A piece of a blue orb... how did we even get a hold on such a thing? If the restored version can really heal this world, it's instrumental that we get it back and keep it safe. But is it just a coincidence that this was stolen? Did someone tell an outsider? Or perhaps... was it an inside job? Victoria filed those thoughts away for later. They would find out in due time.

"Hmm, who else could come along with us... the people I know best are Rachel, Gwen, Mina, K, Buckley and Hazel. K left earlier, probably to go east towards Mauville. Mina just left too, so she's probably busy.," Victoria thought out loud. She looked around the Pokemon Center, spotting another girl and her Espurr in a... staring contest? Victoria just gazed at them for a moment before shrugging. "I'll ask that girl over there, she seems to be free." I don't know what they can do, but at least having another Pokemon on the team will help.

Victoria walked over to the silver haired girl and her Pokemon. "Hi, I think I've seen you around town before. You may or may not have heard about this, but an important item has been stolen from the Mayor. We need some help to get it back. Would you be up to the task? Oh, I'm Victoria by the way, but Vic or Tori will do fine."

[Matanui3]

Hazel waves to the approaching Mina, smiling widely.

"Yeah, there's always room for one more! We're happy to have you along!"

She turns back to the others gathered at the gate.

"You guys ready to go kick some bandit ass?"

[Nyna]

Emi Konda

Finding the situation well under control in the Pokecenter, Emi would step out only to spot Meian rushing towards the entrance. "Aah, Meian~! Everything's under control, don't worry! Though, I did want to talk to you, if you don't mind?" Assuming she didn't, Emi would move off the path to discuss what she'd heard earlier about the theft with her girlfriend. "Um, so... I'm guessing you want to go look for the thieves, right? If you do... I'm coming with you. Knowing you, you'll probably starve without me around~"

[The Walrus]

K talked to each of the new people joining the group in turn.


As Hazel joins the others gathering at the eastern gate, she calls out to Thumper to meet up with her once more from its position blocking the entrance with the Arena Trap ability (which, thankfully, did not require it to dig a sand pit - such a course of action merely helped).

"Thumper and I warmed up earlier. We're ready to go when you are."

Watching as the other girl's baltoy continued it's spinning, Hazel did a few extra stretches for good measure, while her Trapinch contented itself with snapping its jaw at the flying top.


"Hello, uh ... Hazel, right? Welcome to the team! I think I've heard about you. Your weapon has its own name, so that must mean it's really awesome! Hello to you too, Thumper! Here's a quick tip for you: Clay can have many different qualities, but - and I'm speaking from experience here - good flavor is not one of them. Although you do remind me of someone else I knew with a large mouth who seemed to like eating anything, so maybe clay does taste good to Trapinches?"




Having made a decision, Mina made her way to the eastern gate. Spotting the burgeoning group wasn't difficult; you didn't see many bald people around here.

"Hey, uh..."

It's 'K', right? That's what she just told the other girl

"K...? Overheard that guys were going out for search an' rescue. Think you could use another warm body."

"Another warm body would be good! And if you have a Pokemon, that would be two warm bodies, unless it's like, an ice Pokemon or something. I see you know my name, but I'm afraid I don't know yours."


Buckley shows up at the Eastern gate to find the missing hunters.

"Good to see you here, Buckley! You're the one they call 'The Wall', right? Hey, quick question: If we ever get into some sort of combat with bandits, would you mind if I cowered behind- I mean, covered the area behind you?"


Hazel waves to the approaching Mina, smiling widely.

"Yeah, there's always room for one more! We're happy to have you along!"

She turns back to the others gathered at the gate.

"You guys ready to go kick some bandit ass?"

"I'm ready! It looks like we have six people here, which is one more than the number of missing people we need to find, so I think that works out."

[ptdapen]

Yukike Kamira

Kamira held up a single finger while keeping her eyes locked with her Espurr companion. Soon her eyes gave into the pressure and she blinked, thus deeming Belka as the winner. "That's not fair; I was distracted," the telepath girl complained. Belka cracked a small smile before shaking her head. "Oh fine, it's 5472 to 0."

The outcast rose to her feet and turned to the stranger whom interrupted her. "What makes you think I want to help? Ah, whatever, let me get a good look at you," Kamira demanded. She teleported about Victoria in intervals to stare at different parts of her person. As typical, she attempted to find what the smith was thinking. "You look to be the fighting sort; how typical. At least your hair is quite nice... Victoria." Without any care for personal space the psychic reached forward to touch Victoria's hair. At the very least, she only wanted to do it gently.

Meanwhile, her Espurr meandered over to the telepathic doctor and tilted her head upward to stare. It was a vain effort to try to make eye contact but still she tried. Her psychic presence was of interest to the little cat. When satisfied, she let out a soft meow and went in for a leg hug.

Trying to pry into Victoria's Mind: [roll0]

[Matanui3]

"Hello, uh ... Hazel, right? Welcome to the team! I think I've heard about you. Your weapon has its own name, so that must mean it's really awesome! Hello to you too, Thumper! Here's a quick tip for you: Clay can have many different qualities, but - and I'm speaking from experience here - good flavor is not one of them. Although you do remind me of someone else I knew with a large mouth who seemed to like eating anything, so maybe clay does taste good to Trapinches?"


"Haha, yeah, Thumper acts more like a dog than a bug sometimes. You like my weapon, though? Watch this!"

Pulling Whirling Destiny, which currently looked like some sort of Morningstar, if all of the spikes on its oversized head were to be replaced with holes, she flips a switch and the head falls off, connected by a cable to make a flail, though Hazel doesn't get it spinning out of concern for all of the others milling about.
With another few manipulations, the cable retracts back into the head, and a portion of the handle flips down. Hazel spins the weapon around so that she is holding it by the new grip and pointing the former haft outward, and the haft splits into four parts, which form a sort of open barrel for a shot.

Collapsing the weapon back into its travel form, Hazel replaces it on her belt.

"Whaddya think? Pretty cool, huh?"

[Hazuki]

Collapsing the weapon back into its travel form, Hazel replaces it on her belt.

"Whaddya think? Pretty cool, huh?"Lady Boner looks at the bone clutched in her left hand, at Hazel's weapon, back again, then tosses the bone over her shoulder and folds her arms over her chest.

[Merilan]

"Oh, that's Kamira..." Kira whispered gently, but Victoria had already moved forward to interact with her. Instead, Belka had moved towards her, and she reached down to pet her gently with a quiet smile. "There, there..."

She picked the Espurr up gently if allowed, and stepped towards the other two. Kamira... she's the other one with psychic powers that she knew of in town, and a stronger one than Kira at that. "It's been a while, Kamira. Victoria, Haku and I are going to leave westward to retrieve a stolen object, if you've heard...?"

[Mura-neechan]

Meian Tensaiji

Blinking and almost pouting as Emi waved her down, Meian and Fila would almost both collapse at the loss of adrenaline. They'd been prepared to jump in and save the day, but before either of them could get too far, Emi mentioned wanting to talk. Taking it as a duty, Meian simply nodded, and slipped off of Fila's back, as she rest against her Ponyta. Listening a bit to all this talk about thieves and blue orb shards and Team Aqua, Meian would put a finger to her lips, considering it all. There wasn't really a good solution involving something like that, but there was power there.... and power...

"Power leads to destruction and fear... We'll have to snuff it out..."

Meian blinked as she realized she spoke and heard Emi's knowing tone as she spoke on Meian wanting to go after the thieves. Giggling a bit to herself, Meian would stroke Fila gently, before moving close enough to give Emi a gentle kiss on the cheek, as a wild eye looked over to her elder.

"Of course. If I need to quickly use Fila, your cart won't be damaged, right?"

[Elfbird]

Team Eastward
Buckley, Gwen, Hazel, Mina, K, Rachel

The first phase of your journey goes smoothly. You're able to make yourselves appear both threatening and inedible enough that the wild Pokemon stay away, though you know that some are always watching.

Things get interesting when you approach the twin lakes. The abandoned wagon is overturned on the road, and mildly on fire. There's a fairly recent-looking slime trail and a number of circular scorch marks leading between the wagon and the southern lake. The slime nearest the burning wagon seems to be smoking slightly.

The sulfurous, rotting stench from the lakes is overpowering at this distance. You've endured it before, but even the fire is difficult to smell in comparison, despite the gentle wind blowing toward you.

There's room to skirt around the whole affair on the north side, should you so choose.



Team Westward
Haku, Kira, Victoria, Kamira, Emi, Meian

You pass by the Contest Hall to give a quick report to Diana, then embark on the long, gloomy hike through the entirety of Rusturf Tunnel. The guards allow you to pass at each checkpoint, whispering blessings and well-wishes for the young heroes.

The final stretch of the tunnel is unoccupied save for one hidden sentry at the far exit. You were warned to douse or recall your light sources and follow the ropes hung along the walls, to avoid aggravating the wild Pokemon who kept their homes in this end of the tunnel. Larger, better armed parties could just storm right through, but you alone aren't intimidating enough to comfortably risk such bravado.

The absolute darkness, the oppressive weight of the stone surrounding you, the way every breath and footfall and wagon echo shatters the enduring silence with its echoes... It's unnerving, even for those who've passed this way before. Except for Kira, of course, who may be more at home here than anywhere else.

It's fine, even recommended, to speak quietly amongst yourselves so as not to startle or be misidentified by wild Pokemon - just don't make any sudden loud noises or bright lights...

[Merilan]

Kira

Kira had procured a familiar and well-weathered travelling coat by the time they assembled at the west gate; she briefly bowed her head and gave Emi and Meian a greeting of her own: "Thank you for coming with us. The journey will be all the more bearable with more company."

Ahead in the tunnel, Freie boldly led the way with her capability to see in the dark -- and Kira was primarily attuned to her pokemon's senses more than anyone's to assist her through. "Freie is used to navigating such spaces... she is more than happy to help lead us through this tunnel."


Kira has Telepathic on (as she will in all Sceenes). -2 AP.

Freie is keeping an eye out for trouble - Perception [roll0]!

[Mokou-tan]

Haku

Haku had drawn her tanto upon entering the cave, prepared for a fight to break out at any moment. She calmly listened to the footsteps around her as she walked, hoping to at least hide her own presence for an advantage if the thieves were lying in wait in the cave somewhere. The dark was comforting to Haku in a way. It helped hide her from potential foes throughout her life and even if she was no longer a bandit, the habits were still there. Move quiet, don't get caught.

Stealth: [roll0]
Haku prefers to slip under detection as frequently as possible, even in a group.

[The Walrus]

"Hello, any gods in there?" K called towards the southern lake. She looked around to see if there was - besides the cart - any of the 'rubble' Erin had said the bandits had attacked from.

[roll0]

[Esprit15]

As the lakes get closer, Gwen buries her nose in her top as best she can. "So, should we investigate the wreckage?" she asks the group, stopping as the carcass of the wagon comes into view. Fire suggests some kind of Fire type pokemon were at least partly responsible... Great. Vantail would be staying toward the back of the group, it seemed.

Pokemon Edu to identify possible source of the slime: [roll0]

[Hailfire]

Earlier (in response to being asked her name)
"Mina. Charmed, I guess."

Now
The lake wasn't the worst thing Mina had ever smelled, but it was definitely up there. The journey to reach it had been tedious and dull, especially across well-trodden (albeit slightly hostile) terrain. Without any immediate course of action once there, she fidgeted with the innocuous looking ball she'd constructed on the way. Perhaps not the safest thing to do, considering it could potentially explode, covering her in dust, but it wasn't like she'd be stupid enough to drop it by accident (right?).

She wouldn't admit to being startled by K's sudden exclamation if anyone asked, but it did give her a bit of a jump. She almost wanted to smack the girl for potentially alerting anyone hiding nearby. Obviously, she couldn't see anyone immediately (as per the idea that they might be 'hidden'), but she kept her guard up.

When posed the question on whether they should investigate the wreckage.

"If there's bandits 'round here, it'll might be sacked already. Or trapped. If we do, probably should be careful about it."

She took another look at the surrounding area.

"If y'all want, I can give this place a once over first, see if I can find anything...Or anyone."
On the journey there, Mina prepares a Dust Trap as an extended action, just in case.
Perception to spot anyone/anything still lurking around [roll0]

[Revenant9]

Victoria nodded to Emi and Meian and said, "Hello," but didn't say much else. She wasn't sure how to feel about being in the dark like this. It was a little unnerving, especially together with the quiet that emphasized every breath. It made her feel a little exposed. What she was exposed to, she didn't know, but she was prepared to deal with that feeling. Her sensei Kurenai had taught her about stealth from almost the beginning of their training together. To Victoria, it had seemed completely unrelated to the usage of weapons at first, but Kurenai made sure to explain very plainly just how stealth was useful in a fight, by performing ambushes on Victoria to begin each training session. Victoria had understood very quickly that if she couldn't detect someone before they attacked, the fight was as good as over. The best thing to do then, was to avoid being detected herself. After that main lesson, she also learned more skills such as hiding weapons on your person, how to blind a foe momentarily and more.

Putting what she learned into practice, Victoria walked as quietly as she could. She didn't bother with trying to keep an eye out in this darkness, she would leave that to Kira and Freie and perhaps Kamira who turned out to also have psychic powers.

Stealth: [roll0]

[Hazuki]

Earlier Buckley

"Sure you can!" Buckley beams at K. "Just don't let yourself get distracted." Wink.

Buckley

"Now that we're here, we should stick together, right?" Buckley replies to Mina's suggestion. "It's a lot easier to ambush just one person!"

[roll0]
Lady Boner Perception: [roll1]

[Elfbird]

Team Eastward

K & Mina: The lakes burble and bubble a bit. There's no other debris around besides the burning wagon on the open plain.

Buckley: You reckon that whatever came out of the lake lost interest and returned. The slime is still moist, despite the nearby fire (though the nearest puddle is smoking), so it must be recent. How could the fire be related...?

Gwen: You're fairly confident that the slime is water and sludge trailed out from the south lake, rather than issued from a Pokemon itself. Marill, Grimer, and Corphish are the most common lake-dwellers in this area.



Team Westward

Haku and Victoria practically melt into the darkness, using their companions' sounds to mask their own. From time to time you wonder if they're even still with you, if you can't hear their soft voices.

[Hazuki]

Buckley

"And it looks like the slime is recent, came out of the lake and then went back..." Buckley muses out loud, tapping her shield as she does so. "Lake ninjas?"

[gmoyes]

Rachel Matthews- Route 117

Travelling together as a large group like this allowed them to travel without any wild Pokemon interrupting them, as they were too strong together to approach. Rachel was a little disappointed. She would've liked a chance to catch a new Pokemon, but she knew they were on a mission. While it might've been a good idea to pick up more Pokemon to gain more numbers, they might not be able to afford the time or potential battle damage.

When they approached the lakes, Rachel saw an overturned wagon and some traces of fire and slime. The smell was rather rotten, but she stomached it without too much difficulty. She had made worse smell in her attempts to cook. Intrigued by the wagon, she thought of where it might of come from. "I think we'd have known if there was a cart like this missing from town so this must be a traveller from somewhere else. It's really too bad that they got this far and this happened before they could get to Verdanturf." Thinking that the area between the two lakes was a good natural choke-point so there may be an ambush ahead. "Apex, keep a lookout up there." The Baltoy was already hovering over her head and rotated slowly to scan the area. Rachel gave a nod of approval and turned back towards the wagon. "Are there any survivors in there?" she called towards the wagon. We're from Verdanturf. Anyone? We want to help."

Rachel Charm [roll0]
Rachel Perception [roll1]
Rachel Edu Pokemon [roll2]
Apex Perception [roll3]

[The Walrus]

Buckley

"And it looks like the slime is recent, came out of the lake and then went back..." Buckley muses out loud, tapping her shield as she does so. "Lake ninjas?"

"Ninjas are real!? That's so cool! No, wait, that's actually kind of scary..."

K looked around nervously, before her eyes settled on the slime trail and its attendant markings.

"Hey, does anyone else think that those little round burn marks look like something a Ponyta's hooves might make? You know, like the one Meian has? It would make sense if that was what was pulling the cart, but then some some sort of horrible lake monster and/or ninjas attacked and there was a struggle but the Ponyta lost and it got dragged into the lake."

Then K turned to stare at the still bubbling lake.

"Speaking of the lake, if Suicune really did appear in one of these lakes, wouldn't that make them, like, holy water or something? We should take samples and see if we can use them to ward off evil ghost Pokemon. I'm not carrying any containers myself, so - wait... maybe I am..."

Making a technology education check to see if K knows whether or not using her pokeballs to store polluted lake water in them would mess them up somehow: [roll0]

[Matanui3]

Gagging at the stench, Hazel looks around the site with watering eyes. These volcanic lakes were always nasty, and she didn't want to stick around longer than necessary. Still, they had a job to do, and people to find.

"Holy water? Nothing that still smells like that could be holy water. Regardless, it seems both trails lead towards the lakes, so that's probably our best bet for finding survivors and/or whoever did this. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with our missing huntresses, but we should check it out to be sure."

She draws her weapon, though doesn't activate it yet, and checks Thumper's pokeball on her belt, ready to get to the bottom of this.

[Nyna]

Emi Konda

Emi would smile, returning Kira's greeting. "Of course! If anyone gets hurt, please bring them to me, I'm a trained medic." And she'd smile at Victoria as well. "Pleasure to work with you~"

Emi would hop off the cart as they reached the cave, grabbing a thick blanket from inside the cart to carefully cover up Fila to suppress the light coming from her flaming mane and tail. "Sorry Fila, just bear with it for a while, okay? Just until we're out of the cave." She'd pet the Ponyta on the head affectionately before climbing back into the cart and getting it moving again.

She'd look at Meian with a small smile. "No running off or making any loud noises, okay? You might be super tough, but I'm just a fragile nurse~" The darkness didn't really seem to bother Emi too much though. It was... a bit unnerving to be completely cut off from her vision, but she'd already passed through here once in far worse circumstances, and she took comfort in the fact that there were plenty of reliable companions around in case of trouble. Not to mention... she'd smile a bit, scooting over and wrapping an arm around Meian's shoulders. Nice and warm, the perfect cure for sensory deprivation~

[ptdapen]

Yukike Kamira

Back at the PokeCenter, Belka had accepted the blind doctor's pick up with glee. Kamira, however, had not been amused and immediately recalled her Espurr back to the Pokeball. "Why would I help you find the shard?" she had spat out before turning her back on the group.

Despite that declination, Kamira was with the group now. The outcast had decided that staying in the village would be boring compared to analyzing the other psychic in town. She held her Espurr close and both kept their eyes focused on Kira on their way out of the village. This time Kamira had no intention of wasting effort and opted to use Mind Reader to have a guaranteed result. Belka, on the other hand, appeared to be craving another hug.

Two of the group ran off before she had a chance to communicate with them. She shrugged; it was of no real concern to her. Don't be alarmed; I'll be projecting thoughts to your mind periodically in an effort to stay quiet. Kamira was only capable of sending these messages to two people at a time but they remained relatively the same. She did not keep this projection on constantly though; her own thoughts were kept guarded usually.

In this instance, she definitely wanted nobody to know what was running through her mind: thoughts of fear. The darkness prevented her from teleporting to anywhere; it felt as if her wings had been clipped. She clutched her Espurr tight as they went through the cavern while keeping her other senses open for anything off.

Telepathy On (-2 AP)
Using Mind Reader on Kira (her thoughts are MINE)

Perception: [roll0]

[Esprit15]

"Okay, like we discussed then: of the four with the best range, whether it is them or their Pokémon, two pairs take left and two take right. The other two go investigate the wreckage, letting the group know what they find. This could be a trap, so if we're going to spring it, let's be smart," Gwen says, gesturing to the two sides of the wagon, reference to the axis that they were approaching from. "If we are attacked from only one side or from something in the wreckage, be ready to collapse in, but keep an eye out for other attackers. Let's say about six seconds before helping us."

"Buckly," she continues after making a few gestures and looking lost in thought, "that's you and me." Gwen points to the caravan.

"Are there objections to this?"

[Hazuki]

"My favorite combination!" Buckley adds, nodding with Gwen's recommendation that they check out the fallen wagon together.

[gmoyes]

Rachel Matthews- Route 117

"Alright then Gwen. You're the tactician." She looked up at her companion. "You heard her Apex. You've got the mobility advantage so we've got the flank. We'll take the left side, the one opposite the lake. If there's gonna something jumping out of the water at us, I'd prefer not to be caught with a type disadvantage." With that Rachel moved a little to the north with her Baltoy ahead of her. She was prepared to dash back to support anyone who needed it.

[Matanui3]

"It's fine, we've got this." says Hazel, transforming her weapon into cannon mode to cover the others, and motioning to K to come with her to the right.

Sending out Thumper, she gives the Trapinch a few instructions. "Follow these two into the wreckage over there, and arena trap anything that comes out."

[The Walrus]

K took up a position on the right side of the cart. Although she tried to stay focused on Buckley and Gwen, she was still a bit spooked by the possibility of something jumping out of the lake at her, and kept glancing back at it. In her left hand, she held her slingshot, and in her right, a super potion with the top slightly unscrewed, so that if K flung it in just the right way, the potion would spray out in midair onto whoever needed K's particular brand of long range healing.

[Merilan]

Kira

Kira didn't mind too much; while Kamira was certainly intrusive, she didn't really feel bothered by having her mind be read. If nothing else, it would help them keep cohesiveness as they work their way through the darkness of the tunnel.

Kira's mind was no doubt a fascinating thing, though -- unlike a lot of other people's largely linear and consistent minds, her thoughts seemed to break abruptly and jump from one to another without a particular rhythm or wave. It was like they were fragments with no particular beginning or end, or even truth to their claim; some of the memories were just flat-out false, like the existence of a massive tree in the midst of Verdanturf, or a meteorite that had flattened the Pokemon Centre. It was slightly uncomfortable to peek in, with the sensation of damage emitting the sensation something akin to having constant static and noise when watching a television screen.

Kira proceeded onward, since they haven't really encountered anything yet -- Freie also kept her senses peeled and open.

[Mura-neechan]

Meian sighed softly, as Emi did all the important stuff for getting through the cave. Frowning a little, Meian relaxed in the cart. Emi's return gave her a nice place to lay quietly. Choosing to silently snuggle up next to Emi for a while as the darkness aurrounded them, the girl would gently rest on Emi's sidde, as they moved across. Feeling the gentle embrace of the elder girl, Meian would lean a bit more closely, and smile a bit in the darkness. Closing her eyes to relax her mind a bit, she'd gently whisper.

"I could have made it~"

[Elfbird]

Team Eastward

Mina: you recognize the burning wagon as the one that your and Victoria's failed run had abandoned the other day. It hadn't been overturned at the time, but those Zigzagoon were forceful.

K: You don't actually know if water can damage the inside of a Pokeball or not, but it seems like a bad idea. You could always try drinking it to see if Suicune had purified it or not, though from the looks of it...

Everyone: You skillfully fall into positions and carefully approach the scene. The viscous bubbles on the south lake seem to become more concentrated closer to the near shore; the north lake is too far to be of consequence now (several hundred meters).

Gwen & Buckley: As you get within a few meters of the upturned wagon, you both start to hear a faint, high-pitched whimpering noise from inside over the sound of hissing flames and crackling wood.
Gwen recognizes it as coming from a Roselia, which are native to this area.
What will do? (Flip it by hand, tool, or Pokemon; smash the bottom open; other?)



Team Westward

Thanks to your insightful preparations and remarkable stealth, the rest of the tunnel passed without incident, aside from a particularly bold or curious Whismur that Freie scared off with a low growl. Light from outside shines into the tunnel, giving your eyes a chance to acclimate before stepping out into the early afternoon sun on Route 116. The hidden sentry drops a pebble to acknowledge your presence and confirm her own - if anything happens to you from here on, Verdanturf will know where to start searching.

You have a choice of how to approach Rustboro:

- The northern route is an elevated forest of dead trees, marking the edge of what the jungle has failed to reclaim. It's easy to navigate, even with a cart, but it's also easy to imagine an ambush behind every burned-out husk...

- The southern route is overgrown with thick, tough grass that comes up to waist height. There are no obstacles or large hiding spots, but you risk disturbing wild Pokemon in the grass...

The paths unite at the end and lead into the cracked pavement and concrete ghosts of the once-proud Rustboro City.

[Merilan]

Kira

Kira stopped at the branch in the path, then glanced back towards the assembled group. She'd likely come this way before in excursions, but given the nature of their theft, it was also easy to imagine that there could be more accomplices. "I am loathe to suggest it, but I would suggest the danger of wildlife to be more bearable than potential accomplices to our thieves. Then again, we may be able to question them, should we encounter any, and refine our pursuit... what are your thoughts?"

[Hailfire]

Mina

"Yeah. Sure."

Taking the one remaining remaining position on the left, Mina kept the trap at the ready in her left hand, while her right hovered over her belt, ready to snatch up either Drake's pokeball or her Butterfly Knife. It'd taken her a bit to recognise the overturned wagon, but now she was almost certain there wouldn't be much left inside it. Zigzagoons were willing to eat just about anything.

[Esprit15]

"Vantail, carefully approach the wagon. There is a Roselia in there. Toughen up, then carefully step in. If it attacks, you know what to do," Gwen says, pointing the Cacnea to the wagon. "Otherwise, don't take hostile action, and try to lead it out into view. Buckly, don't attack, but be cautious." The Cacnea glows faintly green with energy before slowly walking into the wagon, calling out as gently as it can in its own somewhat shrill, raspy voice.
Gwen orders Vantail into the wagon, let's say Focused Orders.

Vantail
Standard: Growth
Move: Move into the wagon
Other(?): Charm - [roll0]

[ptdapen]

Yukike Kamira

Kamira squeezed her Espurr as she gleamed off information off of the blind doctor's head. It was erratic to her; interesting and yet disturbing at the same time. Her thought processes were unlike others. Can she see into the future? Is this nonsense? she pondered in her private thoughts. She ultimately cut off the connection for the time being and opted to meditate on the matter at a later time.

"With two telepaths an interrogation should be easy," Kamira noted with a hint of glee. She placed her Espurr on the ground and began to teleport in a circle around her dear Belka as she thought about the matter. "We'll know if they simply told us what we wanted to hear. No need for any torture either if you're afraid of that. On the other hand, I am curious what Pokemon are around here though that can be satisfied another day."

[Mokou-tan]

Haku

Haku quietly flipped her blade in her hand, thinking of which option would be preferable. Each way had its benefits and issues, and a potential new Pokemon meant bolstering her team, but human foes would have gear to take.

"Bandits loosely organized... Humans usually weaker than Pokemon... Expect low tactics... Prepare ranged options if chosen..." As the former bandit spoke, she pointed towards the forest. After she finished, she pointed to the grasslands. "Pokemon can be caught... Edible... Still low threat..." With a small nod, she flipped her blade one last time. "Will follow Kira either way..."

[Revenant9]

Victoria hummed in thought. "Well, as much as I'd love to catch a new Pokemon or two to aid us on this search, more information has greater value at the moment, even if there's only a small chance of the possible bandits knowing about the ones we're looking for. It's unlikely that anyone who hangs around this close to Verdanturf knows that something important was stolen from there, otherwise they would avoid the place, but they might know about someone passing through this direction," Victoria said. "I say we go north, through the forest," she concluded.

Once she spoke, she got herself ready for a possible ambush. She didn't release Ilya just yet, but she did grab one of the small throwing knives from a pouch at her hip.

[Hazuki]

Buckley

Buckley nods at Gwen's instructions, and tries to look as nonthreating as possible to the Roselia that might soon be joining them.

[gmoyes]

Rachel Matthews- Route 117

Rachel's interest was piqued when Gwen mentioned that there was a Roselia trapped in the cart. "A Roselia? Mom told me that they were a common Pokemon in contests. Might be a good addition..." She shook her head. The others saw her first. "Well get her outta there! The poor thing is probably all dried out from the flames. Mina, you have a Psyduck right? We'll be needing some water." She took a couple steps towards the wagon to call to the Roselia. "It's ok little one. We'll get you out of there."

Charm roll [roll0]

[Matanui3]

Seeing that the cart team has things under control, Hazel turns her attention to the bubbling lake, keeping a watch so the party wouldn't be surprised by anything emerging from the water.

She tells Thumper to stand down and return to her side, since a single Roselia wasn't likely to be a huge threat to anyone besides maybe the ground-type Trapinch...

[Elfbird]

Team Eastward

Vantail flexes her muscles and, with some effort, lifts the edge of the wagon enough for a squealing green blur to dart out from underneath.

Just then, a number of Grimer and Corphish ooze and skitter forth from the south lake! They're trying to go vegetarian!

The surprised Roselia emits a small burst of fire around itself, making a circular scorch mark identical to the others nearby. She seems exhausted and terrified and paralyzed with indecision, before finally responding to Rachel's calls and running to hide behind her.

Vantail sustains a Burn!
Roselia is Burned and at 50% HP!
Nobody is surprised by the Things from the Lake!
Vantail got a massive circumstance bonus to Charm for being Roselia's immediate rescuer, but Rachel still won out by a margin.
Roll20 link will go in OOC thread when it's ready tonight. The time for battle is nigh!



Team Westward
Victoria and Kamira vote for the dead forest, the latter someone less decisively.
Kira weighs the lesser danger of wild Pokemon against the possible rewards of information from bandits, with Haku declared to follow Kira either way.
Emi and Meian have yet to voice opinions.

While discussing your options and letting your eyes adjust to full sunlight, you all notice a pair of Taillow chirping and playfully chasing each other over the tall grass some distance ahead.
Kamira, with her near-unblinking gaze, is the only human to spot the hungry Nincada and Zigzagoon hidden below, each betting on where the Taillow will land first...

[ptdapen]

Yukike Kamira

Kamira's head jolted from the Taillow above to the tall grass below. She lifted a finger and announced, "There are some hungry Pokemon over there; if you care for the birds' safety then we should intervene." The psychic outcast spun about and smirked before she began teleporting in front of each and every one of her traveling companions. Belka's head shifted about to keep up with her sporadic movements. "Do you care about them? Why?" she asked, repeating the exact words to each girl. Her wide-open eyes suggested that, regardless of answer, she would condemn them. At the very least, she did not bother prying into each girl's minds; she was doing this in such a succession that she had no time to read many surface thoughts.

[Merilan]

Kira

It was not Kira, but Freie that dashed out towards the Taillow the moment Kamira pointed it out; the Poochyena growled and stood next to the bird, intent on protecting it from the Zigzagoon and Nincada.

Kira looked to the group, then nodded as she hurried after her Pokemon. "I will not see an innocent Pokemon come to harm, myself."

[Mokou-tan]

Haku

The moment Kira began to run, Haku ran with her without a moment's hesitation. "Kira chose..." True to her word, Haku was following Kira. While she herself liked the idea of helping Pokemon, the idea of letting Kira go alone is what truly sent her moving. After all, what kind of friend would she be if she didn't help? As she reached closer to the chosen battlefield, the former bandit threw her pokeball, releasing her own Nincada, Rin.

[Mura-neechan]

Meian yawned a bit, as they left the cave, stretching a little, as she went to uncover Fila, and flick the Ponyta's ear before whispering gently. A giggle later, the girl would see the concerns, before shaking her head a bit. "Pokemon get eaten, that's part of nature, you know. In addition, I'm not overly worried about any ambushes. It'll be safer overall to take the trees. If these people planned ahead to have an ambush, we are better off taking them out now, rather than facing all of them in a concentrated group. They don't even really know who all would be coming after them. Verdanturf isn't a powerful location, not enough to really send out a competent team, it's only because of an influx of different people they can afford this much."

[Nyna]

Emi Konda

Emi would smile as they ended up outside finally. "Nice to see the sun, finally~ Um, I think I'd rather stick to the roads. The cart can go through the grass too, but it'll be easier on Fila if we stay on cleared terrain." She'd then watch as people moved to rescue the two little Taillow from predators. "Aah... not that I don't understand wanting to save creatures, but... just don't forget that everyone needs to eat, even predators."

[gmoyes]

(Roll20 isn't up yet and I'm off to bed soon so while this may be jumping the gun some, I don't want to hold everyone else up until I get up in the morning)

Rachel Matthews- Route 117

Rachel's eyes widened as the Roselia that Gwen's Cacnea freed shot out a blast of fire. "So you're the fire starter. Aren't you special? I guess asking for water may be a bad idea for you." As the Pokemon from the lake approached, the grass type tried to hide behind her legs. The trainer bent down a little to be closer to her level. "Aww, it's ok sweetie. Here-" She pulled out a plain Pokeball and held it out to the Roselia. "You can hide and rest in here. I won't force you in, but it's probably the best way to protect you for now. We'll make sure you're all healed once we clear this lot out."

Charm Check: [roll0]
Pokeball capture check if needed: [roll1]
This will probably take up Rachel's turn.

(regardless of what happens)

"Ok, let's help the others Apex. Remember to watch out for poison! This goes for everyone! I don't know what our stock of antidotes is like. Focus on the Grimer first. Harden, then get to the front lines." The Baltoy's body took on a sheen and floated over to hold off the Grimer.

Def +1
I don't have the map yet so if someone could move Apex to a spot where it can be a obstacle for the Grimer, I'd appreciate it.

[ptdapen]

Yukike Kamira

Kamira tapped her chin as she thought about each person's response. "They're right; if I didn't tell you about the predators lurking there you would have been none the wiser," she remarked to the girls heading towards the Taillow. "Besides, doctor, it's not like you'd see them get eaten up anyways."

She snickered at her own mockery of the medic's blindness. Her expression turned more serious as she dissected the situation. "But if you really must save them why don't you just signal them over? If the predators come over then no loss. But all the better if we avoid the fighting and stay fresh for the bandits."

[Elfbird]

Rachel's eyes widened as the Roselia that Gwen's Cacnea freed shot out a blast of fire. "So you're the fire starter. Aren't you special? I guess asking for water may be a bad idea for you." As the Pokemon from the lake approached, the grass type tried to hide behind her legs. The trainer bent down a little to be closer to her level. "Aww, it's ok sweetie. Here-" She pulled out a plain Pokeball and held it out to the Roselia. "You can hide and rest in here. I won't force you in, but it's probably the best way to protect you for now. We'll make sure you're all healed once we clear this lot out."

The Roselia emphatically shakes her head at the Pokeball and hides from it behind Rachel's leg, then breaks cover to run back to Vantail and cling to her instead.

[Esprit15]

"Vantail, center Corphish. Kill," Gwen says, the Cacnea quickly moving forward, vines reaching from its outstretched fist toward the Corphish. "Keep your focus and keep up the accuracy." Looking toward the Roselia, Gwen lowers her stance, softening her expression a little. "Come here. You're in danger over there. I can heal your burn if you come to me," the girl says, pulling out her Burn Heal. While she would prefer to use it to fix up Vantail, the Cacnea could handle the pain for a while, and the Roselia needed it more.
Rolled for Absorb in the pad

Standard: Expend Momentum - Vantail's next attack roll will be an 11
Swift: Pull out Burn Heal
Move: Command Roselia to come to her - [roll0]

[Hailfire]

Mina

Immediately springing into action, Mina readied the makeshift dust bomb and tossed it towards the southern enemies.

"Fire in the hole!"

A wall of aerated particles was thrown into the air around the southernmost pokemon; not dense enough to obscure vision, but nasty enough to blind. Best case scenario, the pokemon would be dumb enough to try and escape through the debilitating dust. Otherwise, it would suffice at blocking those pokemon from moving, hopefully preventing them from getting into melee range of the others.

Hopefully, everyone else would realise running through the eye-stinging dust and sand would be a bad move.

Shift: Forward ~7 metres
Standard: Dust Trap. Squares some pokemon are in will slow and blind characters moving through them. AOE as per roll20.

[Revenant9]

Victoria had gotten used to the darkness of the cave rather quickly, as her feelings shifted from being exposed to feeling comfortably unnoticed. All she had to do was trust in her training. As a result, once she finally adjusted to the bright daylight, she felt a little disappointment. She quickly shook it off though. As warm as it had been in the cave, it was truly nice to feel the warmth of the sun and the fresh coolness of the wind on her skin.

When the two Taillow appeared, playing over the grass, Victoria was somewhat interested. She was in need of another Pokemon partner and Taillow could grow to become rather strong. She was far more interested though, when Kamira notified her of the existence of hungry predators. Now that they had been pointed out, Victoria could see the Nincada and Zigzagoon in the grass. These were sure to be rather powerful if they were able to prey on Taillow, especially the Nincada with its type disadvantage. Or perhaps their actual weakness was why they were teaming up? In that case Victoria had to applaud their basic cleverness.

Victoria was given little time to answer Kamira's question, but once the girl was done teleporting around - an act that Victoria actually found quite rude, given that she'd initiated a conversation only to leave it again - she made to do so anyway. "I can't say I care much about the birds, but those predators, especially the Nincada, are very interesting to me, I imagine they're fairly strong and would make good companions with a little bit of incentive."

With that said, Victoria joined Haku in sending out her Pokemon, Ilya. The Slugma looked around as if dazed, before brightening when she saw Freie and Rin. She quickly crawled over to them and made happy gurgling noises at them.

Here's to hoping the Nincada and Zigzagoon don't get intimidated and run away. Although Nincada aren't especially fast Pokemon, maybe I could catch up.

[Hazuki]

Buckley, recognizing the danger, moves up beside the advancing Pokemon with Lady at her side, forming a defensive cross whose base has been snapped off.

Assuming the Roll20 is up to date, Buckley will move to be beside Vantail (East) and Thumper (South), with Lady on the square beside her (West).

Buckley
Shift - Movement.
Standard - Binding Stalwart Bastion. Buckley, Vantail, Thumper, and Lady boner gain 4 DR.

Lady Boner
Shift - Movement.
Standard - Nothing at all.

[Merilan]

Kira

If Kira heard Kamira's jab at her, she didn't make a motion; rather, the somewhat quiet doctor simply lowered her head to focus on the task. Even if Meian and Emi didn't wish to do so, she couldn't help but admit they could use some more hands in their upcoming task of finding the bandits.

"Freie, let us do that," she finally concluded. "Let us lure them back towards us."

The Poochyena followed suit to leap out and let out a menacing growl -- hopefully, it would send the Taillow scattering while attracting the attention of the Nincada and Zigzagoon. Then, she fled back to where her master was.

[roll0]

[The Walrus]

"Vantail, center Corphish. Kill," Gwen says, the Cacnea quickly moving forward, vines reaching from its outstretched fist toward the Corphish.

"Whoa, kill? Can't we just settle our differences through maiming?"

Even as she spoke, K was instinctually rushing towards the nearest piece of cover, on fire though it may have been. Then K stopped. There were quite a few potential witnesses to acts of cowardice here. The martial artist suddenly stopped and swiveled around, clenched her super potion in between her teeth (years of endless babbling had given K great endurance in her jaw, so this was no effort), and drew a stone from her quiver. Barely pausing to aim, she launched the projectile at the Corphish nearest the wagon.


Shift: Move to square two left, one up from left square of wagon. At end of shift action, transfer super potion to mouth to free up right hand.
Standard: Fire slingshot at Corphish 6 down, 4 right of me.
AC Roll:[roll0] vs 5 + unknown evasion modifier
Damage:[roll1] - unknown defense
Critical Damage:[roll2] - unknown defense

[Matanui3]

"C'mon, Thumper, let's take out those Grimer! Bulldoze!"

Sending Thumper forward to catch the two Grimer in a devastating ground AOE, Hazel follows behind, shifting her weapon to flail mode as she does so.

After the rumbling has stopped, Hazel moves in close to her Pokemon, covering it from incoming attacks - there were some water types to be wary of, after all.

Bulldoze accuracy:
Damage: [roll1] and -1 speed CS

Edit: CRIT! [roll]2d8+10 more damage!

[Elfbird]

Team Eastward

Gwen successfully coaxes the Roselia away from Vantail toward relative safety.

Vantail greedily sucks a Corphish into nothing but a chitinous husk, and Thumper blasts two Grimer into inanimate sludge, earning those two the collective fear and wrath of the remaining wilds.

The two remaining Corphish deem Thumper the more present threat and aim deadly jets of bubbles at her!
One strikes home, while the other fizzles; the shamed Corphish retreats into the waters, stirring up a cloud of dust in its face in the process.

The last Grimer was clearly in this for the salad bar, and hurls a glob of poisonous dressing Sludge at Vantail, the more accessible of the two Grass types.

GM rolls in Roll20
Grimer 1: Sludge -> Vantail: 30 damage, 2 injuries
Grimer 2: DEAD
Grimer 3: DEAD
Corphish 1: Bubblebeam -> Thumper: MISS!
Corphish 2: DEAD
Corphish 3: Bubblebeam -> Thumper: 40 damage, 2 injuries
Roselia: Shift 2 to follow Vantail, Shift 3 toward Gwen



Team Westward

Freie's ruckus sparks a rush of activity in the tall grass! A number of Taillow burst into the air and fly away to the southeast; a couple Nincada leap in surprise before burrowing into the soil; the grass rustles noisily as other Pokemon scamper to safety.

A lone Zigzagoon swaggers out of the grass to have a growling match with Freie.

Growl -> Freie: MISS!
Once again, Kamira is the one to notice a pair of opportunistic Nincada hiding near the Zigzagoon, likely hoping to get a meal out of their confrontation one way or another.

[Hazuki]

Buckley, seeing the danger posed by the Grimer's sludge attack sent towards Vantail, steps up in front of her and tries to block the bulk of it with her shield.

Lady rushes forward, dragging her bone along the ground behind her as she rushes, then swinging it and a chunk of dirt over the gelatinous creature.

Buckley auto-succeeds on the check to Intercept Ranged Attack on Vantail. Lay that damage on me bb.

I'm guessing that ended last round, so Lady's free to take an action. If not, I guess I'll edit this out?

Lady Shifts and Attacks with Bone Club. [roll0] vs 5
Damage: [roll1]

[Matanui3]

Momentarily distracted fiddling with her weapon, Hazel doesn't notice the Bubblebeams coming towards her pokemon until it is too late.

"Thumper! You okay?" She asks.

One nod from Thumper later, and she regains her fire. "Well you know what we do when someone knocks us down: we hit them back, yeah, twice as hard!"

Finally getting her flail spinning, she dashes over to the offending Corphish as Thumper begins to glow with the telltale light of a Bide. As the Trapinch continues to Bide its time, Hazel slams the head of Whirling Destiny onto her newest opponent, a small detonation from inside sending the business end of her weapon back into the air afterwards, where she continues spinning it.

"What do you think of that, you little lobster? You're not fit to be my lunch!"

Backswing hits, 35 damage, rolls in r20. The Corphish is now MARKED, getting -3 to all attack rolls against targets other than Hazel.

Thumper uses her turn to Bide the damage she took. Stored damage: 40

[ptdapen]

Yukike Kamira

The psychic outcast crossed her arms as she watched the others aggravate one of a Zigzagoon. Her eyes widened, though, when she saw that there was more trouble than that coming in. "Don't be fooled; there're some little bugs lurking in the grass still," Kamira announced to the group. She teleported forward and thrusted her hand forward at one of the Nincada in the bushes. Her little Espurr hurried over like a normal creature that uses legs and imitated the same motion. "Feel the power of our combined efforts!" she announced to the insect; Belka added in her own, mild meow to accompany her master.

Both used Confusion on Nincada 1. Note that damage below is rolls before any resistance.
Kamira: 22 Damage Roll
Belka 31 Damage Roll

[Mokou-tan]

Haku runs forward and seems to split into several copies of herself, watching carefully for the right time to strike. Her Nincada on the other hand goes right for the Zigzagoon, going straight for a life-draining bite with a screech!

Leech Life Damage: 24
Haku has 3 stack of Double Team

[Esprit15]

"Now get the other one in the water! No mercy!" And indeed, Vantail shows none, draining the Corphish of life as quickly as her burn tries to sap her of her own. Looking back to the Roselia, her tone softens again. "Here, hold still for a second. This might sting a bit," the girl says, spraying the Burn Heal onto the injured portions of the grass type. "After this, we'll get you some proper care as soon as we can, okay?"
Vantail shifts, then uses Absorb

Gwen shifts, then uses a Burn Heal on the Roselia

Vantail gains 2 momentum.

[Merilan]

Kira

Kira remained quiet, but drew her hand to her chest as she communed her intent to Freie. "Stand vigilant, yes..." she whispered.

Freie gathered her energy, and flecked her tail around in a spin, sending nearby sand to burst upwards at the Zigzagoon.


Kira is using Focused Training as Orders for Freie.
Freie is using Sand Attack. [roll0]

[Hailfire]

Mina

Once again dashing forward, Mina swiftly drew her knife and struck at the one foe still hanging around the shore. Unfortunately for her, Grimer as a pokemon lacks any obviously 'vulnerable' spot to sucker punch, so her attack was less than brilliant.

"Argh! Sod off already! Why even come out of the water?!"

Shift Action: Move
Standard Action: Sucker Punch at Grimer [2d10+10+14: 35 Damage] as per Roll20

[The Walrus]

Clearly, K had to save at least one of the Pokemon from her bloodthirsty teammates.
She stepped forward and chucked a pokeball at the Corphish she had shot a sling stone at earlier.


Shift: Move 2 down
Standard: Throw Basic Ball at remaining Corphish
AC Roll: [roll0] vs AC 6
Capture Roll:[roll1]

[Revenant9]

Victoria surveyed the situation. Having slightly mourned the loss of a potential new partner, she was rather glad to be told that another opportunity was available. Wasting no time, Victoria quickly issued orders to her Pokemon; "Ilya, Ember on the second Nincada!"

Ilya crawled past Freie, Rin and Haku with surprising speed and then spat a small ball of fire and ash at the Nincada. While that was going on, Victoria grabbed a Pokeball from her pack, waiting to see if Ilya hit her mark. If she did, Victoria would throw her Pokeball hoping to catch the Nincada quickly. If not, Victoria would wait until Ilya's next attack hit the target.

Ilya
Shift Action: Move 3 down and 1 left
Standard Action: Ember (Fire, Special, Range 4) on Nincada 2
AC2 vs [roll0] (Burns on 18+)
Damage: [roll1]

Victoria (If Ilya hits with Ember)
Standard Action: Capture Attempt on Nincada 2 (Required Range is 7, Victoria's Throwing Range is 8)
AC6 vs [roll2] (Spending 1 AP)
Capture Roll: [roll3]

[Elfbird]

Team Eastward

K's Pokeball catches the Corphish on the claw and sucks it inside. It wibbles... and wobbles... then shudders... and clicks!

The remaining Grimer attempts to retreat back into the lake... only to be reduced to goo by Mina, Lady Boner, and Apex amidst a cloud of dust from the traps.

Battle over! Do what wrap-up healing/capturing/roleplaying you will and let me know when you're ready to move on to the next scene.

Trainer EXP: 2 each
Pokemon EXP: 20 per Trainer (Pokemon EXP is always divided among your Pokemon as you see fit)
Support points: 2 each (add to your row on the Shipping Chart; formulas will update the rest)

Captures:
- K caught a Corphish! Lv. 15, Decisive nature, Battle Armor ability.
- Roselia will follow Gwen around until someone chucks a Pokeball at her. Lv. 10, Calm nature, Poison Point ability, knows Hidden Power Fire.
(Stat points are always free to assign.)

Loot:
- 300p Food scrap (Corphish)
- 450p Medical scrap (Grimer)
- 450p Tech scrap (around the wagon)
Scrap can always be traded for cash or other goods with other PCs and NPCs in certain places. If you can't use it, someone can!



Team Westward

Emi and Meian opt to sit out this battle, taking a rest at a safe distance.

Kamira and Belka handily execute one of the Nincada they spotted, while the other hunkers down amidst the tall (and now slightly singed) grass.

The Zigzagoon continues to growl at Freie and Rin. Whether it's scary or adorable is up to each observer...
She yelps in surprise when Freie gives her a face full of sand and Rin takes a bite through her thick fur!

Zigzagoon: Growl -> Freie & Rin: HIT (-1 Atk stage)
Nincada 1: DEAD
Nincada 2: Harden
Rin: Leech Life -> Zigzagoon: 13 damage
Victoria: ready action to throw a Pokeball at Nincada 2 once it sustains damage
Ilya: Ember -> Nincada 2: MISS
Freie: Sand Attack -> Zigzagoon: HIT (blinded until the end of its next turn)

Round 2 Commence!

[ptdapen]

Yukike Kamira

Kamira flicked a hand through her hair after she felled the Nincada. "How pitiful," she commented before teleporting forward to get a better angle on the Zigzagoon. Belka waddled over next to her master and raised up her arm with a more forceful meow. "Let's see if this sort of creature has a stronger mind, shall we?" The psychic duo linked hands and sent forth psychic energy towards the Zigzagoon to ravage its poor, adorable mind.

Rolls in OOC. Again damage is before resistance.
Kamira: 27 Damage Roll
Belka: 34 Damage Roll

If you want a Pokemon announce it ICly that you want it! Otherwise Kamira is going to aim to kill any opposition.

[Esprit15]

"I'm going to put you in here until I can get you to a center to be healed. After that, if you hate me, you can leave, but not before then," Gwen says to the Roselia, kneeling down to the rose Pokemon and tapping the activation button on a Pokeball.


"Is everyone alright?" Gwen asks as she steps toward the center of the group, also recalling Vantail.

[Elfbird]

"I'm going to put you in here until I can get you to a center to be healed. After that, if you hate me, you can leave, but not before then," Gwen says to the Roselia, kneeling down to the rose Pokemon and tapping the activation button on a Pokeball.


"Is everyone alright?" Gwen asks as she steps toward the center of the group, also recalling Vantail.

The Roselia, wounded and mollified by Gwen's gentle manner, puts up only a token struggle before the ball clicks!

Forgot to mention: Roselia also has 1 injury from dropping under 50% HP

[Hailfire]

Mina

Mina eyed the fallen Corphish. Unlike other kinds of shellfish pokemon like Shellder, they were edible even when taken from unclean water.

She flicked her knife out, only to be reminded by its slime encrusted surface, that it'd just been used to strike and injure a being made of toxic sludge. She cringed and immediately wiped it off on the nearby grass, before putting it away. It would need a good wash later... And maybe a couple minutes over an open flame.

"...Anyone got a clean knife I can use to cut the meat off these?"

[Mokou-tan]

Haku and Rin both rush the final Nincada in tandem, Rin pouncing and biting into its hide while Haku swings powerfully against it, managing to do some damage to it.

Rin: Leech Life, 27 damage roll
Haku: Flail, 28 damage roll

[Matanui3]

Winding down after the battle ends, Hazel walks over to Thumper (after she safely unleases her Bide where nobody is standing).

"Good job there Thumper. Sorry I was out of position for that bubblebeam - it shouldn't happen again. Take a good rest, you deserve it."

After using a Potion on the Ant Pit pokemon, she returns it to its pokeball, and looks around at the others.

"Well, I don't think a bunch of wild pokemon ambushed our hunters, so I guess we had better keep moving. That was fun, though."

[gmoyes]

Rachel Matthews- Route 117

It seemed to Rachel that she had blinked and the fight was already pretty much over. "Wow, I hardly did anything," she said as she walked up closer to the group. Coming up to Gwen she eyed the Roselia. "Well, it look like that Roselia is your's. She'd be quite the sensation in a contest." The trainer gave a shrug. "But you saw her first and healed her so what you do with her is up to you. That reminds me," she said turning to the group as a whole, "I don't believe we have much in the lines of a medic and we can't be backtracking back to Verdanturf every time we need a patch-up. So we need to figure out how to find and divide healing items. I don't have much on me, but the two of us are just fine at the moment. Any ideas?"

[Elfbird]

Team Westward

Round 2 Interlude
The Nincada that Haku and Rin started beating on fled from their attentions, little the worse for wear. Only for two Taillow to swoop down at it from the trees!
...They, too, had little more success at cracking its carapace or uprooting its claw from solid ground. Tenacious little bug.

Nincada 2 uses Harden, then Shifts away!
Haku and Rin both hit with AoOs!
Two Taillow swoop out of the trees! One hits Nincada with Peck, one misses.

Victoria and Kira and their Pokemon have yet to act this round; just a bit more on the field for you to play with~

[Merilan]

Kira

Freie continues to charge forward and blindside the Nincada in the thick grass, dusting up more sand to get into its eyes as she approaches.


Kira - Focused Training Order on Freie.
Freie - Move up, Sand Attack on the Nincada 3. [roll0]

[Revenant9]

Victoria was rather disappointed to see that she missed, especially after it caused the Nincada to not only get hit by Haku and her Pokemon, but also by two Taillow. She debated leaving this Nincada and letting nature take its course but quickly decided that, no, she had wanted it first! I'm not gonna let these Taillow or Haku take my new companion from me, she thought, with a little bit of humor. She didn't actually mind too much if that particular Nincada was lost, but she'd invested some effort into trying to catch it and didn't want that to go to waste.

With that in mind, Victoria called out, "Ilya, Ember on one of those other Nincada! Cover the Poochyena!" After commanding her Pokemon, she moved closer to her target, got out another Pokeball and threw this at the Nincada she had already tried to catch once. This is my last Pokeball, if it fails I'll have to either waste time picking up the missed ones or simply attack the Pokemon and I can't afford to waste time when the others are fighting, so this is it.


Capture Attempt on Nincada 2
AC6 vs [roll0] (Spending another AP)
Capture Roll [roll1]

Ember on Nincada 3
AC2 vs [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]

[Elfbird]

Team Westward

Freie spots another Zigzagoon and two more Nincada lurking in the grass!

Victoria captures the injured Nincada from right between the Taillow, drawing their attention to the lunch-thief!

One Nincada scuttles up to snack on Freie's deliciousness, the other... becomes a fried cricket, thanks to Ilya.

Zigzagoon burst from the grass at the Psychic duo! One slams Kira into Victoria, who easily catches and stabilizes the blind girl. The other lunges for Kamira, only for her to teleport away. Confused fuzzy critter.

Nincada 3 & 4 and Zigzagoon 2 & 3 revealed!
Victoria captures Nincada! Lv. 10, Desperate nature, Compound Eyes ability.
Nincada 3: DEAD
Nincada 4: Leech Life -> Freie: 19 damage!
Zigzagoon 2: Tackle -> Kamira: Teleport!Dodge
Zigzagoon 3: Tackle -> Kira: 13 damage!

On to Round 3!

[Mokou-tan]

Seeing Kira assaulted, both Haku and Rin rush the Zigzagoon, Rin attempting to bite, but failing to hit anything but fur. Haku on the other hand... Hits it with a held pokeball!? "You're mine..." Sure enough, the Zigzagoon is beamed into the ball and Haku keeps hold of it as it shakes and settles. She quickly turns to Kira to look her over. "You okay...?"

[Esprit15]

Rachel Matthews- Route 117

It seemed to Rachel that she had blinked and the fight was already pretty much over. "Wow, I hardly did anything," she said as she walked up closer to the group. Coming up to Gwen she eyed the Roselia. "Well, it look like that Roselia is your's. She'd be quite the sensation in a contest." The trainer gave a shrug. "But you saw her first and healed her so what you do with her is up to you. That reminds me," she said turning to the group as a whole, "I don't believe we have much in the lines of a medic and we can't be backtracking back to Verdanturf every time we need a patch-up. So we need to figure out how to find and divide healing items. I don't have much on me, but the two of us are just fine at the moment. Any ideas?"

"The Pokedex says it's just a Fire typed Hidden Power. Not sure how it burned Vantail from that, but that's in the past now," Gwen says, skating over the clear plot hole. Looking around the group, she begins to think of what to do next. If this was the wagon that was attacked, the rest of the group, or at least their remains, couldn't be too far from here. Some of the team appeared to be injured, though. "Well, I certainly won't say that people have to give up any of their stuff or that we make a group item pool, even if that is the more optimal solution. At the same time, those of us who dive into battle head first are putting their selves more at risk so that others need not do so..." Several methods occur to her. They could just treat injuries as needed, pulling from whoever had the most supplies. But that tends to create the illusion that reckless use of resources was okay. People could use their own items and make do, but some people were naturally going to burn through those faster... "How about we pool part of our resources - Antidotes, Burn Heals, Paralyze Heals, and the - and everyone treats the rest of their wounds individually? Poison and fried nerves can slow the whole group down way more than a couple of cuts.

Does everyone think this is fair, or have a counter proposal?"

[Merilan]

Kira

Kira looked more than a little surprised as a figure smashed into her and sent her skidding on her feet, but Victoria caught her and steadied her, and then Haku came to her rescue. She nodded to the both of them to say, "Thank you... then, I should try to contribute too..."

She turned towards where she sensed Kamira's residue was -- and moved after the Zigzagoon. She drew her cane out to whisper, "... I am sorry," and in one smooth stroke a blade came from within the cane, trails of psychic residue swinging by -- but her swing was wide, as she couldn't see the grass it was in and how it hampered her blade.

Meanwhile, Freie sunk her teeth into the Nincada in one fell swoop.

[ptdapen]

Yukike Kamira

"You need to be more careful!" Kamira shouted to the other telepath. Right after she turned and narrowly avoided the Zigzagoon coming after her. She teleported again farther away and sighed. "Sneaky little critters. Belka, take care of it, I need a bit." She grasped her head from the exertion while her Espurr followed her instructions and used her psychic power to ravage another adorable little mind.

[Mokou-tan]

Haku takes a moment to survey the remnants of the battle. There was one more thing on her mind at the moment. "Don't kill the last Nincada! I want it!" It was rather surprising for Haku to to voice herself and even moreso that she was able to shout a full sentence.

[The Walrus]

K stuffed the super potion back in one of the many pockets of her vest, and then rushed forwards to the pokeball containing the Corphish she just caught. After staring at it for a few seconds in disbelief that she managed to catch something, she put that away too, and turned to survey the aftermath of the battle.

"You know... I don't think we really needed to kill any Pokemon today. We could have just scooped up that Roselia and legged it. Two legs are faster than zero. And Corphish have six legs but they're all really short and thin, like a quarter of a normal leg, and two is higher than one and a half. Yeah, I get that we can eat the Corphish - but you can't eat Grimers. And for puddles of slime, they looked so happy..."

The martial artist broke off for a moment, deep in ponderment.

"I mean, I know it seems silly to worry about killing piles of ooze, but my mother always used to talk about this poem that said "If a clod be washed away by the sea, Hoenn is the less for it" and I never understood what it meant before, but Grimers are sort of like clods of dirt, only purple and oozy, so I think I get it now. There aren't too many humans or Pokemon left, what with this whole virus thing, so anytime we kill anything it's pushing a species closer to extinction, and that's probably a bad thing."

Finally K sighed, then pulled out her pokeball again to look at it.

"Well, at least I got you out of this! I think I'm going to call you... Hard-Corps. It's a hard name to live up to, I know. I guess I'll let you out again when you've rested up a bit more and that mean ol' cactus isn't around."

Thinking about the Cacturne and its trainer, K turned to address Gwen.

"Yeah, that thing about the antidotes and stuff sounds fair. As long as we're proposing things, maybe we should douse that cart so we can use it to carry back the missing people, if we find them and some of them are hurt."

[Matanui3]

Hazel listens to Gwen's ideas and nods, adding "If anybody needs anything, I'd be happy to share from my bag. Just be aware I'm liable to use them on myself first; I'm a front-line fighter at heart, after all."

Turning to the upturned cart, she kicks it in one of the wheels that isn't on fire, to see if it stays together.

"Is this thing going to hold out that long? It looks like it was already in pretty bad shape, and it was set on fire on top of that..."

[Elfbird]

The cart isn't... completely beyond hope. You'd be lucky if it held 50lbs in its current state, but it could be repaired back in Verdanturf, or broken down properly for 200p of Smith scrap.

[Hailfire]

"The Pokedex says it's just a Fire typed Hidden Power. Not sure how it burned Vantail from that, but that's in the past now," Gwen says, skating over the clear plot hole. Looking around the group, she begins to think of what to do next. If this was the wagon that was attacked, the rest of the group, or at least their remains, couldn't be too far from here. Some of the team appeared to be injured, though. "Well, I certainly won't say that people have to give up any of their stuff or that we make a group item pool, even if that is the more optimal solution. At the same time, those of us who dive into battle head first are putting their selves more at risk so that others need not do so..." Several methods occur to her. They could just treat injuries as needed, pulling from whoever had the most supplies. But that tends to create the illusion that reckless use of resources was okay. People could use their own items and make do, but some people were naturally going to burn through those faster... "How about we pool part of our resources - Antidotes, Burn Heals, Paralyze Heals, and the - and everyone treats the rest of their wounds individually? Poison and fried nerves can slow the whole group down way more than a couple of cuts.

Does everyone think this is fair, or have a counter proposal?"

Mina looked up, having resorted to using her hands to prepare the Corphish meat. She didn't like to waste clean water on washing her hands, but it was a necessity after what she'd just been fighting. She'd already dumped some lake water into her filter to replace it anyway.

"Well... I ain't got much in the way of that. Got some fresh water, if anyone needs a drink, but that's about it."


K stuffed the super potion back in one of the many pockets of her vest, and then rushed forwards to the pokeball containing the Corphish she just caught. After staring at it for a few seconds in disbelief that she managed to catch something, she put that away too, and turned to survey the aftermath of the battle.

"You know... I don't think we really needed to kill any Pokemon today. We could have just scooped up that Roselia and legged it. Two legs are faster than zero. And Corphish have six legs but they're all really short and thin, like a quarter of a normal leg, and two is higher than one and a half. Yeah, I get that we can eat the Corphish - but you can't eat Grimers. And for puddles of slime, they looked so happy..."

The martial artist broke off for a moment, deep in ponderment.

"I mean, I know it seems silly to worry about killing piles of ooze, but my mother always used to talk about this poem that said "If a clod be washed away by the sea, Hoenn is the less for it" and I never understood what it meant before, but Grimers are sort of like clods of dirt, only purple and oozy, so I think I get it now. There aren't too many humans or Pokemon left, what with this whole virus thing, so anytime we kill anything it's pushing a species closer to extinction, and that's probably a bad thing."

Finally K sighed, then pulled out her pokeball again to look at it.

"Well, at least I got you out of this! I think I'm going to call you... Hard-Corps. It's a hard name to live up to, I know. I guess I'll let you out again when you've rested up a bit more and that mean ol' cactus isn't around."

Thinking about the Cacturne and its trainer, K turned to address Gwen.

"Yeah, that thing about the antidotes and stuff sounds fair. As long as we're proposing things, maybe we should douse that cart so we can use it to carry back the missing people, if we find them and some of them are hurt."

Mina let out a sputtering laugh.

"Don't think you need to worry 'bout Hoenn running out of Grimer or Corphish any time soon. They're everywhere these days. There's swarms of them from here to Lilycove. Far as I heard, people couldn't get rid of Corphish back when they could afford to try, and, with all the mucked up water, Grimer's had a population boom after the war. They ain't going anywhere any time soon."

[Esprit15]

"Yeah... Pardon me if their attack on us left me not feeling too sympathetic toward the creatures. Welcome to the wilds, dear," Gwen says to K, carefully sifting through the rubble of the wagon. "You kill or you're killed. You eat or you're eaten."

[Revenant9]

Victoria was a little surprised when Kira came tumbling into her, but she quickly readied herself and caught the other girl. The smith nodded back almost absentmindedly at telepath's thanks, having for a tiny instant been reminded what it felt like to hold another girl close. Suddenly Victoria missed Sophia a little. Victoria shook those thoughts away with great mental strength and focused more on the battle again.

The way those two Taillow are looking at me, are they planning on taking revenge for their lost food? I should attack them first... but if they're not looking to fight, I don't want to go around hurting or killing Pokemon unnecessarily. Victoria thought quickly before deciding to leave them alone for now. If they came after her, they'd feel the touch of her blades. Speaking of blades, Victoria chose that moment to draw her sword. It was something of an unorthodox weapon, not fitting into many categories of swords. It most resembled a saber or cutlass, but the blade was straighter and wider than the norm. It was of a fine make too, a good amount of time and skill had gone into its creation. Once it was drawn, Victoria called out to Ilya, "Move closer to Freie and guard her from attacks!" Had Haku not shouted out her desire for the last Nincada to remain alive, Victoria would have ordered her Pokemon to fry it like the last one, but as it was, having Ilya guard Freie was the best she could do.

Victoria proceeded to move until she was in front of the Zigzagoon that pushed Kira into her. She faked a slash and then with little mercy, she struck the Pokemon with a quick and dirty stab.

Feint Attack (Dark, Physical)
Crit Roll: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[Elfbird]

Team Westward

Haku punches one of the Zigzagoon with a Pokeball and securely traps it inside. She never had a chance to resist!

The Taillow seem to decide that one Nincada is just as yummy as another. One swoops down on Rin and delivers a nasty Peck, while the other tries to chase Freie and Ilya away from its next meal. That Nincada in turn tries to bite Freie again, but her lunge falls short amidst the tangled grass and sudden battering of wings.

Victoria's thrust puts the last Zigzagoon out of her misery. Who wants kebabs?

Haku caught a Zigzagoon! Lv. 10, Timid nature, Pickup ability
Taillow 1: Peck -> Rin: 27 damage!
Taillow 2: Growl -> Freie/Ilya/Nincada 4: -1 Atk stage!
Nincada 4: Leech Life -> Freie: MISS
Zigzagoon 2: DEAD

Begin Round 4!

[Revenant9]

Victoria saw the life leave the Zigzagoon's eyes. It gave her a strange feeling, knowing she was responsible for the end of its life. She didn't want to dwell on this feeling too much, so her eyes swept over the battlefield, only to catch the two Taillow in action. Victoria dashed over to the one that had attacked Rin, calling out to Ilya on the way. "Ember on the Taillow I'm going to hit! If it's dead after I attack, Rock Throw on the other one!"

I should't have ignored those Taillow. They're wild and hungry, of course they're going to attack. Now Rin has paid for my foolishness. With this depressing thought in mind, Victoria moved close to her target and stabbed it with the throwing knife in her other hand.

Ilya waited to see whether the Taillow was still alive. If it was, she would spew a ball of Embers at the Taillow Victoria targeted. If it wasn't she would concentrate, and levitate a nearby rock or a large concentrated clump of dirt and throw this at the Taillow that tried to intimidate her.

Cheap Shot on Taillow 1
Crit Roll: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Ember on Taillow 1(if Victoria's target is not dead)
AC2 vs [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]

Rock Throw on Taillow 2(if Victoria's target is dead)
AC4 vs [roll4]
Damage: [roll5]

[The Walrus]

"Yeah... Pardon me if their attack on us left me not feeling too sympathetic toward the creatures. Welcome to the wilds, dear," Gwen says to K, carefully sifting through the rubble of the wagon. "You kill or you're killed. You eat or you're eaten."

"They were going after the Roselia, not us! We attacked them first. If you aren't sympathetic to creatures who are just trying to eat and defend themselves when attacked, you're not sympathetic to yourself."




"Don't think you need to worry 'bout Hoenn running out of Grimer or Corphish any time soon. They're everywhere these days. There's swarms of them from here to Lilycove. Far as I heard, people couldn't get rid of Corphish back when they could afford to try, and, with all the mucked up water, Grimer's had a population boom after the war. They ain't going anywhere any time soon."

"Hmm, I didn't know there were quite that many of them. If that's so, than I guess we'll probably all die before they do, so I guess even if some of us kill a few we won't run out in our lifetimes. Okay, when we get back from this trip someone's going to need to draw me up a list saying which species are and aren't okay to kill."

K looked towards the wagon again.

"I'd try to get Hard-Corps to put out that fire, but I don't know if bubbles can do that. Does anyone have like, a bucket or something?"

[ptdapen]

Yukike Kamira

Kamira found it surprising that the ordinarily silent girl spoke up for anything. She was awfully curious as to why the Nincada was so important but the answers had to wait. She teleported forward and ordered her little Espurr companion to get a good angle on the remaining Taillow. "This situation turned for the worst, huh?" she remarked to nobody in particular. Belka pushed past Haku's legs as politely as possible in a battle; she even tried to give her a quick hug as recompense! "Time to for us to test our powers on yet another sort of creature."

Rolls in roll20. All attacks on Taillow 2.
Kamira: 19 - Attack; 26 - Damage
Belka: 12 - Attack; 30 - Damage

[Merilan]

Kira

Kira's eyes widened as the Taillow jumped in to the fight; she felt dismayed and disappointed, though she had to quickly remind herself it was her own naivete that brought them to this situation. "I..." she paused, and glanced aside. "Freie..."

The Poochyena let out a more somber growl, but then leapt for another strike on the Taillow; it seemed to be a feint, however, since she turned to Kira, who was on the quick draw to strike with precision, a soft gleam of psychic residue casting along her blade.

"I'm still sorry."


Freie - Bite on Taillow 2
[roll0]
[roll1] damage, if hits

Kira - Secret Force on Taillow 2
[roll2] - Teamwork from Freie is granting her an accuracy boost
[roll3] damage vs Defense, Smite (half damage if it misses)

[Mokou-tan]

"Metal Strategy..." Rin hears her master's order and skitters back, hardening her carapace as her master steps forward, giving Belka a soft pet as she passes and draws another ball, lobbing it at the wild Nincada and hitting, watching it shake. "You come too..."

Rin uses Harden.
Haku throws ball: 19 (roll20)
Capture roll: 10 (roll20)

[Esprit15]

"Perhaps. I see it as no coincidence that they came out of the water when we got close."

[The Walrus]

"Maybe," said K, although she still recalled the Grimers and Corphish only attacking at the exact moment the Roselia ran out from under the wagon.

"Anyways, we should think about what we're gonna do next. As I recall, the path diverges north and south around a stand of trees. Which option should we take? Or maybe we should just plow straight through the trees, 'cause it's possible that the bandits have their hideout in there and that's where they took the hunters?"

[Esprit15]

"Probably. Although, it may be smarter to go around and see if they attempt an ambush. We'll have fewer numbers to deal with, and terrain that is more favorable. Either way, we'll likely end up in a fight - let's make it one where the odds favor us," Gwen says as she mentally plays several scenarios.

[The Walrus]

"Uh, I'm not like, an ambush expert or anything, but if bandits did attempt an ambush, I'm pretty sure it'd be on terrain that's good for them and not us, and that they would only launch an attack if they thought they could win regardless of numbers. And then there's the fact that, you know, we'd be getting ambushed? Which is usually a bad tactical situation for the ambushees? Now, there's three things that could be going on here: One, no ambush and no base in the woods. In this case, the path is better 'cause it's faster. Two, the bandits have prepared an ambush but their base is elsewhere. In that case, if we took the path it'd be faster but we might get ambushed, while if we went through the woods we'd either avoid the attack or even take the bandits by surprise. Three: The bandits have a base in the woods. In this case, we'd have to go to the base eventually if that's where the missing hunters are, and if we do, I'd rather they not know we were coming because one of them sent a message back before they saw us and attempted to ambush us. Although now that I think about it, their base would probably be in Mauville, not in those woods. I mean, there's already some buildings and stuff pre-built for them there."

[Elfbird]

Team Westward

Victoria and Ilya make Taillow-kebabs, while Kira and Belka snap the other's mind before Freie and Kira sink their weapons into it. Haku's Pokeball endure's the Nincada's resistance before clicking, cleaning up the battle!

Haku caught a Nincada! Lv. 10, Mild nature, Compound Eyes ability

Trainer EXP: 2 each
Pokemon EXP: 20 per Trainer
Support points: 2 each
EDIT: Emi and Meian don't get EXP, but they do get Support Points this time.

Loot:
400p food scrap (Zigzagoon, Taillow)
200p misc. scrap (Nincada; can be turned into food, medicine, Pokeball casings, smithing material, fashion, etc.)
1 Micle berrie (Emi and Meian found hidden in a small hole in the ground)

Go ahead do any wrap-up healing and roleplaying and let me know when you're ready to move forward.

[Mokou-tan]

Haku

Haku scooped up her Pokeball as Rin returned to her master's side. She picked up the loyal bug and made her way back to Kira. She gently set Rin down and softly grabbed Kira's hand, placing the newly caught Nincada's ball in it. "For you..."

[Merilan]

Kira

Kira seemed disappointed in herself, but kept quiet about it. Still, it was enough that some of the Pokemon that they captured survived. The doctor first attended to Rin first, as the Nincada sustained some injuries during the fight; rather familiar with the Pokemon, she smiled as she worked quickly to restore the bug's wounds, then turned her attention on Freie's.

"It was my fault that you two got hurt, so..." she whispered to the Pokemon as she tended to them, wrapping up their injuries with gauze and working quickly despite her lack of sight.

Support: +2 to Haku's affection!
Healing:
Kira will use First Aid Expertise (2/3 charges left) on Rin to restore her HP, remove one injury and remove status effects.
Kira will drain 1 AP to roll Medical Education +10 on Freie...

[roll0]

...to restore that much HP to her, and remove burn, poison and paralysis.


Kira stood up after she was done, blinking as she turned to Haku. "Haku... for me? Ah--" she smiled and quietly accepted the ball. "Now, we match. Should we name her together?"

[Matanui3]

"Heh, look at you, you're cute when you're making your little plans." Hazel says, looking at Gwen while waiting for the strategist to finish.

"We just gotta beat up some badguys, right? How hard could it be, with all of us here? C'mon, I want to get to Mauville sometime today."

[Esprit15]

Gwen rolls her eyes. "Whatever. We'll deal with that when we get there. In the mean time, stay in formation."

[Mokou-tan]

Haku gave a little nod as she tossed out her Zigzagoon. "Needs name too..." She turned to her new companion. "Retrieve..." It would later return to her with a TM in it's Jaws.

[Elfbird]

Team Eastward

You arrive in Mauville about 6pm; the sun is still high but will soon set behind the shadow of Mt. Chimney. You have about an hour of full sunlight and another hour of twilight before night falls.
The city had been bombed pretty badly; most of the structures have collapsed into piles of concrete, glass, and steel, while those still standing are slowly-eroding husks.
Verndanturf has scoured the ruins pretty thoroughly by now, but there may still be secrets buried in the rubble that's too massive to lift or dig through.
There is a colony residing in New Mauville, a reinforced complex buried under the lake at the south end of the city. They have refused all outside contact, but occasionally emerge to scavenge Mauville and chase off would-be residents - human and Pokemon alike. Thus the ruins remain a relatively safe place to visit, but not somewhere you'd want to stay for more than a night or two.
Mauville's power grid is unstable and nightmarishly complex; not even Verdanturf's best engineers have figured out how it keeps coming online or any pattern for doing so. Sometimes lights will flicker on where a slab of concrete sheltered the bulb, or exposed wires and metal will randomly become live - a particular danger of scavenging steel scrap here.

Your initial scouting reveals a few things:

1) The Gym is one of the more intact buildings, and one of the most dangerous with all of the electrical traps and puzzles it used to feature. There is a dead woman a short ways inside, likely electrocuted.
Buckley and Hazel both hear soft, ragged breathing echoing from somewhere deeper inside the gym.
K would immediately recognize her outfit as similar to those worn by the priestesses in Oldale, modified to be more practical for travel and combat.
One person, likely injured. You've heard sounds like that from the medical quarters in Meteor Falls after bad raids, and the damaged Gym building carries sound somewhat similarly.

2) There are three more bodies like the one above floating on the lake, and it's cloudy with dirt and debris. There are signs that rubble was hauled from nearby to the lakeside. Did someone go to the trouble of adding to the pollution?

3) In the middle of the city, a relatively open crossroads, the bodies of three Verdanturf huntresses are laid out in a Y-shape with their heads together. There's a circle of burned and salted ground around them, and a piece of carved steel rests covering their faces.
The steel is vaguely triangular, with a right-angled corner opposite a jagged edge that looks like it was shattered.
Upon closer inspection, one side of the steel is engraved with dozens of precisely-placed dots. The reverse has a number of vertical and horizontal lines near the bottom, cut off by the break. There seems to be some kind of meaning or symbolism here, but none of you can even approach the Occult Ed DC to interpret it.

All of the bodies have been stripped of useful supplies and equipment.
There are signs of other wounded being moved away; likely by the remnants of your hunting party's attackers.
There were originally 6 Verdanturfers in the party. One crawled back to Verdanturf this morning, saying it took her two days. Three were found dead here. That leaves 2 MIA.

What will you do?
Your characters are significantly more experienced at post-apocalyptic life than we are. I will assume competence at and relevant knowledge of whatever you try to do, so there's no need to delve into obsessively detailed planning. If there's something very unusual and specific you want to do, describe it as best you can and I'll fill in the blanks as make sense IC.

I'll wait until everyone in Team Eastward posts at least once before advancing events here.

[Esprit15]

"Everyone, stay in your pairs," Gwen says before anyone can get too far into their exploration. "If you run into trouble, shout for the group and run back to the entrance of the city. If you guys hear someone calling for the group, unless it is life and death, get back to the entrance to help them. Remember, first priority is finding the two remaining Verdanturfers. Good luck."

***

Unless groups form otherwise, Gwen sticks with Buckly. She lets out the Roselia, treating the Pokémon's wounds as best she can. Vantail's burn would leave her at risk, and she needed to build up trust with the other grass type.
Use one potion on Roselia (name TBD). Heal 20 HP.

[ptdapen]

Yukike Kamira

Kamira tidied her hair and pointed at one of the Pokemon carcasses. "Belka, be a dear and start taking these corpses to the kart lady." The Espurr meowed softly before using her telekinetic power to lift one of the Zigzagoons and hover it over to Emi. "Don't worry, I'll help out in a bit."

The outcast then teleported over to Kira and Haku. "That didn't turn out as expected, huh?" She was quite interested in seeing how the blind doctor's mind changed due to the battle. Will it still be so fragmented? Her eyes caught the Pokeball exchange and she smirked. "I don't see why you want those Pokemon; they obviously aren't capable of much if they fold so quickly to me and Belka."

+2 to Kira Support. Get to intrude on a moment too!

Focus for Mind-Reading: [roll0]

[Revenant9]

Victoria had to smile softly at her comrades' friendship. It was quite touching. "Well, while we're giving new Pokemon names..." She releases her own new Nincada, "I've already decided on a name for you, my new friend. You shall be Sabah. Welcome to the team. "

Now that the fight was over, Victoria took a moment to stretch and relax. She also got out an Enriched Water from her pack and let Sabah drink from it and wash her wounds. Then the moment was over and she was all business again. "Don't forget we have a task to do, once we are done healing and relaxing, we should get going." Even as she said that though, she had to think that it was, Easy for me to say, since Ilya and I didn't get hurt at all.

Go KiraxEveryone? 1 more support points to Kira. 1 point to Haku since combat brings people together.

[Merilan]

Kira

The fragments in Kira's mind were still there, though the images have changed. They don't seem to have any kind of rhyme or reason; shards of broken glass floating along a puddle reflecting a burning building in the distance; a full moon looming ominously overhead in the dark; a somewhat battered and bloodied Zigzagoon ambling through tufts of thick grass to get away from some predator unseen. Are the images related to her current mood? Then, they shifted to -- Haku?

Just Haku. Smiling, brushing her hair back, in that quiet manner of hers.

"What about... Hanayo?" Kira suggested to Haku, as she held the Nincada's Pokeball close to her chest.

[gmoyes]

Rachel Matthews- Mauville City

Rachel looked wide eyed as the group scouted the ruins of Mauville. Growing up in the little community of Verdanturf and hardly ever leaving its walls left her a little sheltered. Even her mom's stories didn't compare to what it actually looked like. It was a little overwhelming to her. It was a bleak reminder how far they've fallen.

After finding several points of interest, including several bodies, including those of a few more hunters, Gwen suggested they split up to investigate further. Thinking about where she could be most useful she spoke. "Actually, I'd like to pair off with Hazel to check out the Gym more. With both of our Pokemon being ground types we don't have worry as much about the electrical hazards in there. Apex's mobility would be a boon too. This is, if that's fine with you Hazel."

[Mokou-tan]

Haku

Haku did her best to ignore Kamira's intrusion on their happy little moment, but had to speak out. "Saving them... Someone like you... Wouldn't understand..." She didn't even look to Kamira as she spoke to the telepath, instead focusing more on her friend and the name she'd chosen. "Like it... Nice name..."

[The Walrus]

Oh, Arceus. K recognized the clothes on the corpse in the Gym as being something like what one of the priestesses back in Oldale would have worn. A stab of guilt flashed through her. Had the priestess come here looking for K? Was that why she was dead now? K had to get a closer look, not knowing how she'd react if it did turn out to be someone she recognized.


Rachel Matthews- Mauville City
After finding several points of interest, including several bodies, including those of a few more hunters, Gwen suggested they split up to investigate further. Thinking about where she could be most useful she spoke. "Actually, I'd like to pair off with Hazel to check out the Gym more. With both of our Pokemon being ground types we don't have worry as much about the electrical hazards in there. Apex's mobility would be a boon too. This is, if that's fine with you Hazel."

"Would you mind if I went with you and Hazel? The priestess in the Gym - I mean, the woman - the body - had clothes that looked a lot like what the priestesses back in Oldale wore. If I got a closer look... I might know her."

K turned to Hazel.

"Do you think Thumper could drag the body outside the Gym? If she's still touching an electrocutey bit I don't want to get close to her myself." Not that K would've wanted to get close to the corpse even if she'd been sure it was totally safe.

There was another reason K had wanted to go to the Gym instead of checking out one of the other places. Whoever did this to the hunters was likely still lurking about somewhere. As the sky wasn't raining blood or anything, K guessed that their evil ritual hadn't worked the first time, so they would probably try again soon. Actually, maybe the hunters were already their second attempt. Maybe at first they just tried drowning three people in the lake. If they got just one more person, they could make a third attempt, using the other two missing Verdanturfers. Three sets of three... that had to have some mystic significance, right? Third time's the charm? And if any of the six members of her team were to be captured and sacrificed, K was convinced it would be her. In all the stories she had heard in her childhood, people who were irresponsible, who ran off and abandoned their duties, tended to meet with nasty ends. Going back to investigate the lake or the dead hunters would just remind K of all this.

[Matanui3]

"Okay, Thumper, can you pull that corpse out of there?" Sending out her pokemon, Hazel set it to the rather gruesome task of dragging the dead priestess out of the gym ruins. When that was done, Hazel turned to the others who had congregated at the entrance.

"It sounds like there's someone wounded in there, so we should get moving; no telling how long they've been here. Does any one of you have medic training? If not, we're gonna have to wing this rescue."

Beckoning to Rachel, Hazel takes the lead into the cavernous recesses of the gym, letting Thumper scout for areas with electrical hazards.

K and Mina are free to follow behind, if they wish.

[The Walrus]

K took a quick glance at the face of the corpse, then responded to Hazel.

"Wait, there's someone injured in there?" The martial artist inwardly kicked herself for being so distracted by the priestess and thoughts about the sacrifice of the hunters that she hadn't heard someone's cry for help.

"Then I've gotta get to them fast!"

Without a word of further explanation, K started looking for avenues to climb up the sides of the Gym.

Rolling for acrobatics to climb to the Gym's roof, and spending 1 AP for a +1 bonus. (Skill Stunt allows substitution of +6 for 1d6, skill specialization is +2, the AP is +1, for a total of 3d6+9).

Roll:[roll0]

Assuming K makes it to the top, before moving anywhere she'll look around for portions of the roof which collapsed in or for skylights or other means to allow her to see into the gym. If she sees any, she'll lie on her stomach and carefully crawl to that place and look down, spreading her weight out as much as possible to minimize the risk of the roof crumbling beneath her.

[ptdapen]

Yukike Kamira

"Someone like me?" Kamira muttered. She shut her eyes to harness her thoughts and what she gleamed from Kira. It annoyed her that the doctor's mind was so fractured; she believed there had to be some way to fix it. However, she hypocritically did not want the former bandit to interrupt any psychic training. "I need to talk to you later, doctor."

She cut off the mind link and teleported over to another one of the deceased Pokemon; a Taillow in particular. She lifted it with her telekinesis and carried it over to the chef. "Do birds make good eating too?" Kamira hovered the body next to herself for Emi to grab as she crossed her arms. "I know you said it was pointless to help the wilds but we still could have used your help. Could have made the battle go faster at the very least. That is, at least, assuming you can even fight." In the meantime, Belka was standing next to the Zigzagoon she brought over in anticipation for pets.

[Merilan]

Kira

Kira tilted her head in Kamira's direction, a little curious what she had to say, but ultimately nodding. She looked back to Haku to say, "Hanayo it is, then." She held her hand out to the ex-bandit to say, "Shall we go back to Emi and Meian?"

[Mokou-tan]

Haku

Haku nodded and picked up her companion, the Zigzagoon following close behind. "Call this one... Maya?" The quiet girl pointed down to her new catch as she pitched the name to Kira while moving alongside her.

[Merilan]

Kira

Kira nodded, leaning down to pet the Zigzagoon with a smile. "Maya it is, then. I'm glad to have more companions on our trip..."

[Hailfire]

Mina

Mina hung back, unwilling to rush in. While she might have been pretty good at cross-country travelling, the kind of agility needed for this wasn't her forte. Plus, Drake would be more hurt than help in the run down gym.

"Yeah, I'll just be out here, keeping watch. You guys go save the whosit."

[Nyna]

Emi Konda

Emi would accept the Zigzagoon and the Taillow from Balka and Kamira, the former earning some petting for the efforts as Emi smiled at Kamira. "I'm not much of a fighter, honestly, and with Fila harnessed up to the cart, it would take a bunch of time for Meian to run charging in along with all of you, so forgive us for sitting out, okay? I'll patch up anyone who got hurt, though, and I'll make you some treats too once we get moving." She'd grab a large cloth, wrapping the two pokemon bodies up in it before setting them inside the cart. "Until then... if anyone got hurt, please stop by the cart before we continue on!" Emi would call out to the party with a smile.

Emi will hold onto the 400 pokebucks of food scrap since it takes an hour to craft. If she can craft while the cart is moving then she'll get to work once we start moving along, otherwise it'll be something to do tonight. Emi will hold onto the Micle Berry for now as well.

If anyone has injuries, Emi can full recover and clear 1 injury from a target 3 times per day. She can only do this once per target per day however. In addition, if you have any statuses or damage on you, Emi can use her First Aid Kit to heal some HP up. It drains 1 AP but she doesn't use AP for anything else, so she effectively has 6 uses of this, and it heals Med Check + 10 and cures Burn, Poison, and Paralysis. Her average Med Check is 14, so this should heal about 24 HP per use.

[Elfbird]

Team Eastward

After dragging the body out, Thumper and Apex easily navigate the maze of metal rods and coils, following a trail of disturbed dust through the gloomy half-light. Sometimes electricity discharges through the airborne particles to the Ground-type Pokemon, but passes harmlessly through their bodies into the broken-concrete floor, allowing Trainers behind to continue safely before the broken traps build up another charge.
The trail continues to the back of the gym, up onto the raised platform where - according to your mothers' stories - the Leader would have battled challengers, and... continues past a solid wall?

With some careful searching of the wall - cast in shadow by the waning sunlight coming through the holed roof at the opposite angle - Rachel finds an unobtrusively places keypad embedded in one side of the definitely-not-a-secret-door wall. There's no power to it at the moment though.

The dead priestess is nobody you recognize. Which itself says something, since you knew most of the people in Oldale?

You find a spot to scramble up piles of rubble to the gym roof. It's pocked with holes through which you can track the Pokemon and Trainers moving inside. Over the section of building that would be behind the wall where the trail continued, you peer inside and see... a Verdanturf huntress! She seems to be in about as good shape as the one who crawled back to Verdanturf this morning - which is to say, not very good at all, but definitely alive. It's hard to tell how conscious she is.
There's also a good bit of shiny scrap lying in the room: empty Potion bottles, a few Pokeballs, shattered TMs, bits of broken devices, etc.

Do you want to try to divert power to the keypad, brute-force the secret door or the outside wall, try to access the hidden room from the roof, or wait for the Mauville power grid to do its random thing?

Buckley finds herself feeling rather woozy and nauseous, and opts to lie down in the cool evening breeze for a while, insisting she'll be alright after a bit of rest. Do Gwen and Mina want to do anything while the others are focused on the Gym?
Hazuki has decided to withdraw from the game due to a personal disconnect from the setting. Our IC response is for Buckley to take ill, being a nonfunctional, nonburdensome NPC until you bring her back to Verdanturf, whereupon the doctors can help her recover and eventually resume guard duty. So, please try not to fuss over her while she melts into the background ^^.

[gmoyes]

Rachel Matthews- Mauville Gym

Rachel looked around the ruins of the old gym. While not competing much in the gym circuit, her mom did tell her about the gyms. That these were centres for powerful trainers and spectacular battles. If only the young trainer had seen it in is heyday, it would certainly be something. At the very least it would be safer, she thought as another arc of electricity struck Apex and dissipated.

When they got further into the gym, she and Hazel found where the gym leader would stage their battles. The cleared dust lead to a blank wall. Soon enough, Rachel had found a concealed keypad, though it was currently unpowered. "Hell of a lot of good that will do us. If there is someone injured in there, we can't afford to wait for the power to come on and then try to figure out to code. We'll have to tear it down. Come on, we'll do it together." She grabbed a nearby piece of metal to use as a prybar and hands searched for a seam in the wall. As she was shorter that the guardswoman, she took a lower positions. "You too Apex." The Baltoy wedged its point in the seam ready to pull.

Rachel took a steadying breath and hummed the tune of a song hearkening back to this gym's glory days. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBVwtashteQ) This seems to inspire herself, Hazel (and K if she joins them) as well as their Pokemon.

Spending 1 AP to trigger Song of Courage, everyone gets +2 on saves and skill checks until the end of Rachel's next turn.
Rachel Athletics [roll0] (including song of courage)
Apex Athletics [roll1] (including song of courage)[

[ptdapen]

Yukike Kamira

Kamira had been hoping to get a rise out of Emi but her efforts had been fruitless. She felt a slight amount of guilt for trying to agitate her when she was so nice. To be sure, Kamira tried to pry into the Kart lady's mind to see if she thought poorly of her.

Afterward, the teleporter girl frowned when she noticed Belka getting yet more affection from another person. The outcast scooped up her Espurr and kissed her on the forehead. "Come on, we should get the rest of the bodies for her." The duo went off to carry the rest of the deceased Pokemon back to the Kart, excluding the bugs. Even if Emi was willing to cook them Kamira had no desire to eat them.

Focus: [roll0]

[Merilan]

Kira

When Kira returned to where the cart was, with Emi and Meian, she drew her head to respond, "I'm sorry. I wished to save those Taillow, but they wound up turning upon us instead..." She seemed bothered by it, still. "Though I cannot really be the one to say it, we should make haste."

[Esprit15]

"Hey, Mina, I want to take a second look at those bodies. Mind watching my back?" Gwen says after making sure Buckley will be fine. If others have been dragged away, where were they dragged to?

[Matanui3]

Hazel takes up a position opposite Rachel and lends her not-insignificant musculature to the task of prying open the door.
Was it her imagination, or was the door starting to give? Hazel throws everything she has into her efforts!

"Come on, ladies, put your backs into it! No useless hunk of metal is going to stand in our way! HRAAAGH!"

Broke the rolls with the Preview function. Posting them in the OOC thread.
Hazel Athletics: 15
Thumper Athletics: 10

...how is it that a flying top has such a good athletics score, anyway?

[Mokou-tan]

Haku returned her new companion to its ball and began to scout ahead. Kira had already treated Rin, so the smaller girl felt no need to go back to the cart. Besides, she didn't like large groups of people to begin with and had talents better suited to moving ahead of them.

Stealth to sneak around ahead of the group to spot threats, if applicable: [roll0]

[The Walrus]

Peering through a hole in the gym roof, K yelled down to the missing huntress.

"Hey, can you hear me? It's me, K! You know, the mason and awesome martial artist? Two of my friends are working on getting through that door to rescue you, so DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT reflexively shoot at whoever comes through that door!"

Then K turned to the hole closest to where Rachel and Hazel were trying to pry the door open.

"Did you hear that, you guys? One of the missing people is in the room beyond that door! Keep trying!"

K's eyes swept back and forth, scanning the rooftop. Were any of the holes leading into the room with the huntress large enough to squeeze through, or even large enough to fit a pokeball through? Could she see anything on the roof which looked like it could support weight if K tied her utility rope to it?

[Elfbird]

Team Eastward

Rachel, Hazel, and their Pokemon together manage to practically tear the secret door out of its track, eliciting a small shower of sparks and debris. Who needs electricity?

The injured huntress - Artemis Hiver, Gwen's usual hunting partner - shakes herself awake in response to K's call. "Nnng-- who? K, Hazel... Rachel? Oh, good, so someone made it back..."

Artemis has a number of gashes and bruises, but at a glance nothing looks infected or any more permanent than a scar. She's missing her bow and her Taillow, but still has some miscellaneous supplies.

The holes in the roof are easily big enough to fit a Pokeball through, and could easily be broken open large enough for a person. However, your best anchors are chunks of debris that would probably only hold a couple pounds before falling in themselves.

Since Mauville doesn't get much traffic, you're easily able to pick out the most recent sets of human footprints and drag marks.

Central: Signs of combat all around the area; impossible to count how many involved, but at least a dozen in all - some Pokemon, primarily human. Trails where the three dead Verdanturfers were dragged into the burnt circle, and the dead priestesses were dragged to the lakeshore and thrown in.

West: Your group. Erin's trail before she disappeared into the brush.

North: Nothing.

East: One set of outbound footprints; continues further than you're willing to track right now. Sand disturbed by strong wind, though there haven't been any storms in the area recently.

South: Faint inbound footprints. Obvious outbound footprints, including some dried blood and places where people hobbled or dragged feet; maybe half a dozen plus some unidentifiable Pokemon. Likely the remnants of the attackers.

Artemis has 2 Pokeballs, 1 Super Potion, 2 Antidotes, 2 Burn Heals, and 4 Enriched Water left. She'll be out of commission for a while until she heals, so offers you whatever you think you can make use of.

Scattered about the secret room is:
3,000p tech scrap
1,000p medical scrap
2 Super Potions that are still properly sealed
1 intact TM57 Charge Beam
1 Dynamo badge - you recognize it from books and old photographs.

Gym badges were given as medals during the war, or melted down for ammunition. They are exceedingly rare nowadays, and hold high monetary and sentimental value.

[Hailfire]

"Hey, Mina, I want to take a second look at those bodies. Mind watching my back?" Gwen says after making sure Buckley will be fine. If others have been dragged away, where were they dragged to?

While she wasn't inexperienced with bodies (mainly in regards to frisking them), Mina wasn't much of a forensics expert, so she hadn't much to contribute. Still, she was as good enough as an extra pair of eyes, in case anyone was lurking around.

"Yeah, sure I guess."

[gmoyes]

Rachel Matthews- Mauville Gym

With a harsh screech of metal, the two girls and their Pokemon managed to pry the hidden door open. Panting slightly from the effort, Rachel gave a grin to Hazel. "Heh, not bad for Verdanturf's star performer huh? Phew." She paused to collect her breath and then addressed the huntress. "Good to see you alive Artemis. Gwen will be glad to know your safe. She's off investigating into what happened to the rest of your squad." She paused to survey the room and pick up a few interesting items. There was a small yellow pin that Rachel realized was an old Dynamo badge. While not competing in the gyms, her mom did tell her about the badges. It may make for a good trade for cash, but Rachel thought that if she could tie a bow on it, it would make for a nice contest award.

Taking one of the Enriched Waters, a Super Potion and the Dynamo Badge for myself. The Burn Heals and Antidotes can go in the group pool as well as the Scrap. While Apex can learn Charge Beam, I'm stating it to be more physical so someone else could take it.

"I interested to know what happened that lead you to being here. You've managed to hide yourself in a bit of a treasure trove. Here, let me help you up. Can you walk?" She grinned and extended a hand towards the injured hunter to help her to her feet. We came because Erin made it back to Verdanturf and told us about the attack. I also heard something about a Suicune?"

[Esprit15]

"Well, it looks like the attackers went south, though whether it's all the way down in Slateport or just an abandoned house I can't say... Did anyone have a pokemon that can track scents?" Making mental notes to investigate East and likely head South, Gwen heads back to the main group of people around the gym, unless Mina had other things to investigate... RIght after taking one of the masks from the bodies. Maybe someone back in town would recognize its meaning.

[Matanui3]

"Hey, Artemis, good to see you again." Hazel greets the huntress as she enters the secret room.

When offered a stock of healing items, Hazel graciously accepts, also filling her pack with all the other loot that Rachel doesn't grab. She'll offer it to the others once they get out of the gym.

"Let's get you out of this building; we'll meet up with the others. How'd you even end up in this little room anyway?"

[The Walrus]

"Whoa! That was a pretty hardcore door-opening! Looks like there isn't much to do up here, so I'll meet you three outside the gym." K called down.

After carefully traversing the roof, she then descended the rubble that had allowed her initial ascent.


Roll to climb down safely, again spending an action point:[roll0].

I feel it's very likely I can make this, so I'm going to keep posting as if K got down okay, but if I horribly botch this roll ignore everything below this point.


K saw Gwen approaching the gym, and called out to her."Hey, Gwen! We managed to find Artemis in there! She doesn't look too hurt and she found a lot of sweet loot, too! What's with that weird mask you got?"

[Elfbird]

Team Eastward

Artemis takes Rachel's hand and, with a groan of deep discomfort, hefts herself to standing. Even in this condition, it's clear that she pushes herself to be as graceful and dignified as she can.

"Erin made it back? Then what about the others? Oh Mew, don't tell me they're all..." She takes a gulp and recollects herself.
"Well, I'll tell you what I can. Our party arrived about this time two days ago, Rose Lindt's lead - you know her, the girl Kamira's obsessed with. They say mind-blanked, I say empty-headed... Right, the attack. We got here and started scouting, when a bunch of priestesses with weapons jumped out of hiding and split us up! Of course you know the skill of a Verdanturf huntress, but they fought like madwomen! There was no way to reach each other without getting skewered; it was everyone for herself."

"I..." Here she blushes with embarrassment. "...Tripped backwards over some rocks and played dead. Gave me time to crawl to the gym. Got zapped a few times, but made it through and holed up in that room - it was just an open cubby at the time. The fighting stopped soon after. I heard a lot of grinding rocks and weird singing, then everything went quiet - and the door suddenly closed! I've been stuck here since; thank Arceus you came along. I had enough water and potions to keep me alive for a while, but rationed them pretty thin."

"There was something else...? Oh, that Suicune! Well, you've heard rumors before, but we swear we saw it clear as day, sitting silhouetted there on the lake! I think Rose took off after it right when we were jumped. Oh Groudon, I hope she's okay..."

Gwen & Mina: for the record, I did preemptively apply Mina's Survival skill in analyzing the tracks; no need to spend a post going back over them.

Everyone: Artemis' spiel is public info, whether given where everyone can hear or relayed or repeated for Gwen and Mina later.

[Revenant9]

Seeing Haku stealthily move ahead of the group, Victoria recalled her new Nincada as well as her Slugma, and followed suit. She briefly considered hanging back and guarding the group's rear, but ultimately she believed that she was more useful to the group if she knew what was coming. Also someone had to protect the other scout in case of an attack, or notify the others. Victoria wasn't sure whether the stoic Haku would appreciate the help, but she wouldn't let that kind of worry stop her from doing what she thought would help the most.

Stealth: [roll0]

[gmoyes]

Rachel Matthews- Outside Mauville Gym

As the group reconvened outside the Gym, Rachel thought about what they learned from Artemis as well as the tracks found by Gwen and Mina. "Hmm, south is definitely the source of the attackers. With the bodies of the priestesses, there's got to be some sort of connection to Oldale. I wish we knew what that ritual stuff was about." The trainer inwardly thought that they had Kira with them. Not only could she patch up their Pokemon after the beating they've had, she could also have figured out what was written in braille. "Do you think those tracks headed east could be Rose? She really shouldn't be trying to track down that Suicune through the jungle by herself. We should try to find her." She though about the situation.

"Perhaps we should split up. Buckley can escort Artemis back to Verdanturf so they can both recover. Oldale seems important so K should definitely head south, while to the east is Mina's old stomping grounds of Lilycove. I personally work better with a larger group. Any other suggestions or ideas for how we should handle this?"

[Esprit15]

Gwen makes herself attached to Artemis, relieved her hunting partner was okay. "While I'd love to keep going, I feel like sending one injured and one sick person back, especially when one of them lacks a Pokémon, is dangerous. It shouldn't take too long for a few of us to take them back safely. Plus it gives me the chance to drop off the plate with someone who might know more about it, or at least could analyze it. Can I get one volunteer to come with me? We'll be working to get back by tomorrow at the latest, so the rest of you can do some preemptive scouting of the outlying areas." Gwen looks back to Artemis, still amazed that they found her alive after all this time. "What happened to Aquilla, your Tailow?" she asks, concerned.

[Matanui3]

"An escort for the girls going back home is probably a good idea, though I'm not sure you can really get into too much trouble between here and Verdanturf, since the "bandits" seem to have cleared out. As long as you're going, take this scrap to the village, too." Hazel hands Gwen the stores of scrap from the secret room.

"I'm not really sure that splitting up to go both east and south is the best idea, but it's up to you guys if you want to run off alone. Since we're here to rescue our hunters, I think I'd prefer to go eastward, in case it was Rose who went that way. It's a little late, though, so we should probably get moving in the morning - lets find a good spot to hole up in for tonight."

If/when the team finds a good defensible position to stay in for the night, Hazel will use a bandage on Thumper and drain 2 AP to remove one of Thumper's injuries.

[Esprit15]

"I'd agree with that, were in not for the Corphish and Grimer that attacked us on our way here. Anyways, we can still put about an hour between us and Mauville before setting up camp, and when we drop off our wounded, we might be able to make better time back here. I want to make sure that Artemis and the plate make it back," Gwen says. "I'd rather not travel alone, but I will if none of you want to come with. I can also pick up a few more supplies while I'm there, if anybody needs some."

[The Walrus]

"Whoa, this is getting really weird. Why would priestesses attack anyone? The ones I knew back home weren't always nice, but they weren't evil. Well okay, maybe Mother Cherie could get pretty mean if she thought you weren't paying attention to her lessons, but she'd never try to murder someone. I think."

K paused, considering her options. She wasn't sure what she'd do tomorrow, but right now...

"Hey Artemis, do you have like, a canteen or an empty bottle or something? I'd like to get a sample of that lake water, now that I'm pretty sure it's this lake that had Suicune in it."

Assuming Artemis does have a spare container, K will quickly run down to the lake, get some water, and run back.

[Hailfire]

Mina

There was a sigh from Mina, as she realised her inevitable course of action. A little overly dramatic, perhaps, but it still chafed. She didn't know any of them particularly well, but she was pretty sure none of the others were up to snuff at tracking.

Damn it, Rose.

"Guess I have to be one of the ones going after the idiot. Ain't gonna let her get herself shanked chasing phantoms."

She turned to...uh...The other girl who mentioned going east.

"If you'll let me, uh...Sorry, what was your name again?"

[Matanui3]

"Ah, it's Hazel. Hazel Praline.

You, ah, know this Rose well, I take it?"

[Elfbird]

Team Eastward

Artemis doesn't know what happened to Aquilla - she lost track of her during the battle. She hopes the Taillow managed to fly off, either to safety nearby or to track their attackers - she's a smart bird when she has something to focus on.

K can use one of the empty potion bottles to collect a water sample from the lake. Someone in Verdanturf may know how to analyze it, or someone else who could...?

You find a comfortably sheltered camp amidst the ruins and set up for the night - it's much safer here than on the road, because the New Mauvillites have trained predators (human and Pokemon) to stay away. They won't bother you if you stay no more than a night or two.
Things are almost eerily quiet throughout the night... though it's a welcome respite after the day you've had.

8 hours of uninterrupted rest (watch duty and camp chores are also adequately restful):
- Fully recover HP (16/16ths)
- Remove all status conditions
- Restore drained AP
- Restore Move frequencies
- ~12 hours left until 1 injury naturally heals

Pokemon benefit from this while outside of their balls; being inside their balls puts them in stasis, where they can neither lose nor gain HP. Move frequencies will still be restored, however.
When camping for a full night, I will assume all Pokemon are let out long enough to fully recover unless otherwise stated.

Anything you want to do in the night or morning before splitting up?
Who is going where with what key items? (Steel tablet piece, Dynamo badge, water sample)



Team Westward
Kira, Haku, Victoria

With Haku and Victoria scouting ahead to avoid or scare off any more wild Pokemon, the remainder of the trip to Rustboro is mercifully uneventful. You arrive with about two hours before the sun sinks below the western sea. No one challenges your entrance as you cross from grasslands into the city of broken cobblestones and bombed-out concrete shells.

Walking through the ruins, you see dozens of bandits scattered about, alone or in small groups, tending cookfires and polishing weapons or playing at cards and dice. They throw you sidelong glances, then quickly look away and mutter to their companions. Those loitering near the thoroughfare slink deeper into the ruins at before your approach.

Soon, a group of three women emerge from the old Devon Corp HQ and start toward you. One is clearly in charge, a redhead wearing faded jeans, a thick leather vest, and a rusty poleaxe strapped to her back. The other two are as scruffy and mismatched as the rest of the bandits, but carry themselves with an air of focused discipline that marks them as elite bodyguards - or what passes for 'elite' among this rabble. The scattered bandits shy away from this group as much as they do yours.
Haku immediately recognizes the redhead as Claire, the Bandit Queen, as per the PM from the start of the game

The redhead gives an exuberant wave and calls out to you as soon as she's in shouting distance.
"Hey heeey! Visitors! From Verdanturf, even - thought you lot had it in for us! Welcome to Rustboro, mah homies! Anything we can help you find~?!"

By now the area between and around your and the leaders' groups have cleared out. There are buildings and piles of rubble that bandits could hide behind, but they'd have to clear so much open space between you that they'd have no element of surprise. If the bandits wanted a fight, they certainly aren't at all prepared for one...



Team KondaKart
Emi, Meian, Kamira

You three bid farewell to the others outside of Rustboro and head southward along a narrow path along the edge of the toxic jungle, both to avoid another encounter with the bandits and to search for clues about Emi's mother, from whom she was separated in an attack along this route six months prior.

The trees bring nightfall early, though not the total darkness you'd find deeper in the jungle, where also reside the more intense poisons and the horrors they've created. Fila's light attracts attention from the bugs and critters who are starting to come awake, but also deters them from becoming any more than eyes in the shadows.
Judging from the old prewar map you have, scribbled with Umeka's and Emi's notes, you guess you have about sixteen hours of travel between here and the shore where you can sail for Dewford.

Do you want to travel through the night, or make camp until morning?
If you opt to make camp, go ahead do any crafting, planning, and roleplaying things as well.

[Merilan]

Kira bid farewell to Emi, Meian and Kamira, though uncertain what the other psychic wanted to discuss with her. It'd have to wait until next time they met back in Verdanturf. She hoped that they would stay safe...

The doctor was moving with Freie by her side, the Poochyena keeping an eye out silently as she bowed at the exuberant redhead in the distance. "Ah, yes... we were looking for a blue glass shard that was misplaced from Verdanturf. Do you, by any chance, know of it?"

Kira's mind was expanding outwards, of course... she had no choice but to read her mind.

Kira has Telepathy on.

[Mokou-tan]

Haku

Haku seemed surprisingly uncomfortable as she traveled through the city. The normally unflappable maiden was keeping her hand on the hilt of her blade, ready to draw at a moment's notice. As she saw Claire approach she seized up a bit, torn between fight or flight until Kira spoke up. She calmed a little and decided to let Kira handle the talking.

[Esprit15]

Gwen wakes up nice and early, and goes to work introducing the Roselia to working with her with some good old fashioned training against Vantail (who goes easy on her). For the most part, it's all about aim and dodging, while finishing off with precision.
Apply Focused and Brutal Training to both Pokémon.

Ace Trainer drains 1 AP
Train Vantail's Speed
Train Hellebore's Speed
"So! Who is going with me back to Verdanturf?" Gwen calls out as more people begin to wake. "We're burning daylight, and the sooner we leave, the sooner we can catch up to the group."

[The Walrus]

Before turning in for the night, K let out Hard-Corps so it could sleep naturally and recuperate from its wounds, but also so she could give it a personal address.

"Hello, Corphish who I have decided to name Hard-Corps! I guess I already told you that, but you were in a pokeball then so it didn't count. My name is K! Can you say 'K'? Or maybe just clack your claws together to make a similar sound? Well, that's good for a first effort! I must say, I really like the way the red on your shell goes with the - okay, enough pleasantries."

K's cheerful grin turned to the most serious face K was capable of mustering, a face which K had often practiced making as a part of her martial arts training, and which was so serious that once when K had caught her reflection in a clear puddle of water while making the face, she briefly believed that some mysterious, bald-headed stranger had crept up behind her, her intention unclear but obviously very, very serious.

"It's time to lay all our cards on the table, Hard-Corps - time to spell it allllllll out here. You. You're a Corphish. That means you sit around in a lake all day, swimming about and eating bugs and I don't know, pooping in the lake or whatever. Just swimming and eating and pooping. Pooping and eating! Eating. Pooping. Swimming. Now, maybe if this whole virus deal never happened, you'd also be like, mating and laying eggs or something. Which brings me to... me. I'm a human. We eat and poop and sometimes swim, yes, but we do other stuff too. Lots of other stuff. Like building things, and cooking, and writing, and masturbating, and drawing pictures, and putting on plays, and cutting down trees, and going to war, and making bombs, and thinking of ways to make bigger bombs, and using those bombs, and making viruses in case the bombs didn't kill everyone..."

K suddenly slammed her fist into the nearest hard surface, anger creeping into her voice.

"We've mukked it all up, Hard-Corps! The economy, the environment, the infrastructure, the - the future - it's all mukked up! And I apologize for my language if any of your friends were grimers, but it's true! We humans mukked it all up!"

K paused to wipe a tear from her eye.

"Now, I'm not asking you to forgive us Hard-Corps, or even just to forgive me - I know I couldn't if I were you. But some of us humans are trying to, you know, sort of do something about all this - the virus and the environment being destroyed and everything being so terrible. That's why I stuffed you into this little ball thing - because we need your help. The help of you and other pokemon like you. You see, there are some really cool pokemon out there, like Suicune and Groudon and Celebi and others - who we think have the power to make things better. So we need to go and find them, and talk to them and then if they don't want to help us maybe beat them up until they do the things they're supposed to do. It's not gonna be easy... there's like, bandits and apparently evil priestesses and vicious wild pokemon and radiation and stuff I can't even think of yet but which I know is out there, waiting to get me. That's why we need your help - to fight through all this stuff and de-crappify the world. To be honest, it's probably not gonna be as much fun as eating and pooping all the time, but at least you'll get to see some things you never would have seen from that lake of yours. And maybe, just maybe... you'll be able to make a difference somehow. To be hardcore. To be Hard-Corps."

K yawned.

"Well, that's about all I have to say right now. We can talk later when I think of more stuff. Good night, Hard-Corps..."

She might not have had a blanket or sleeping bag, but K hadn't been lying about managing to lay down on a bed of nails before, and wasn't too picky about where she ended up sleeping, as long as it wasn't damp. Soon K had drifted off to sleep.

Draining 2 AP to remove the injury from Hard-Corps. I'm assuming this means it can heal up to full hp instead of 90% of max, but I still only have 4 AP after the night of rest. Please let me know if either assumption is incorrect.



"So! Who is going with me back to Verdanturf?" Gwen calls out as more people begin to wake. "We're burning daylight, and the sooner we leave, the sooner we can catch up to the group."

"I'll go with you. All this business with the priestesses and the slab has got me pretty confused, so I think I should find out what's going on with that before I do anything else."

[gmoyes]

Rachel Matthews- Mauville

Rachel had volunteered to take the first watch the night before. She and Apex were still in good shape and she wanted to make sure everyone else got a good night's sleep. As everyone else settled down for the night, Rachel wordlessly sang the calming song of Verdanturf's anthem (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0aG7kBJS18) as a lullaby.

Her shift was uneventful and once it was over, she recalled Apex and woke the next person (Hazel?) and settled down to sleep herself.

***

The next morning Rachel woke up a little sore. She was definitely more used to sleeping in her own bed as opposed to in a sleeping bag on the ground. Still, this was where she was needed. She got up and stretched to get the kinks out. She stored her sleeping bag and release Apex to do their standard morning routine of her grooming the Baltoy. She took a cloth and some special polish and start to rub down her partner. The process strengthened the clay surface and cleaned the slight scorch marks made by the zaps the day previously.

As Gwen announced that she would be heading back to Verdanturf with K chiming in, Rachel gave a shrug. "Sure, I guess I can come along. I was wanting to talk with Mom to see if we can set up some sort of courier system or something. That way if we have something to bring back to town, need supplies or a Pokemon healed, we all don't have to back track to Verdanturf to do so. We wouldn't be able to take to much advantage of it at the moment as we don't have a bird currently, but it will be great to have the support."

Grooming Apex and applying Inspired Training and experience training.

Rachel will hold onto the Dynamo Badge.

[Revenant9]

Victoria maintained a happy medium between being relaxed and on her guard while the trio walked through the city. It wouldn't do good to seem vulnerable after all. Earlier she had politely said her goodbyes to Emi, Meian and Kamira, wishing them good luck in their endeavor. Now she was confronted with people who may or may not wish the trio harm. Is this some good luck of our own, since we now have the chance to gain further information, or is it bad luck that the people we get information from are so numerous and possibly threatening considering the general opinion in Verdanturf? Victoria wondered. In fact, what if these people were the ones to steal the jewel piece? She batted those thoughts aside for now since there was no evidence either way, and refocused on the situation at hand. Victoria eyed the three people in that stood before the trio, but no matter how much she looked at them, she couldn't discern their intentions. Well, we have a telepath. It's probably best to let Kira take care of divining their intentions, Victoria figured, staying silent until she found a reason to speak up.

[Esprit15]

"A courier system would be a great idea, actually. There are enough Tailow nearby that someone could likely raise them into Swellow and set up some routes for at least the nearby region."

[Elfbird]

Team Westward
Kira, Haku, Victoria

The redhead lowered her voice to slightly above normal speaking volume as she drew to conversation range with the group. "A blue glass shard... Oh, is that little Sayachan with you?" She bends at the waist to look Haku at eye level. "You caused quite the stir when you left; I still remember how cute you were splattered with your mother's blood~! And now you and your new friends have come back looking for something pretty...?"

"Maybe something like... this?" She straightens while pulling a chunk of sapphire-blue glass from somewhere; an irregular shape with a rounded base that cradles in her palm. "Garbage." It catches the waning sunlight spectacularly as it slips from her hand and shatters into hundreds of fragments at her feet.
"Whoopsie~"

She waves her hands in a placating gesture, failing to suppress her giggles of amusement. "I kid, I kid! Relaaax~!"
"Yeah, it was the damnedest thing! One of you Verdanturf kids brought a pile of books and junk the other night, begging for some kinda trade. Didn't know you'd gotten that desperate, with yer fancy PokeCenter still workin' and all. If ya needed help, ya coulda just asked ol' Claire, no problem~! But anyway, we take the goods, 'cause it'd be rude to refuse after all the trouble she went to - huh, never bothered askin' her name - and next thing y'know, they're gone again! Found the little thief's tracks runnin' north, which works out 'cause we were plannin' to pay Meteor Falls a visit anyway. Found something awful pretty from there and wanna look for more."

The woman - Claire, apparently - leans forward again and gives a conspiratorial smirk, apparently oblivious to Kira's inability to see it. It shows in her tone, however. "Whaddaya say, wanna come with? You get yer loot and we get ours, two Taillow with one stone. Besides, be kinda fun to play with our good ol' neighbors again - the girls could use somethin' exciting to keep them on their toes."

Just then, you hear a sudden commotion from a nearby building; two concrete walls closed off with plywood to make something like a one-room house.
"It's Sis! I smell Sis! Let me out!"
There's a terrific crash, followed by a girl - maybe Haku's age or a little younger, smiling brightly - running full-tilt around the building, arms outstretched to tacklehug Kira, her blond ponytails and dirtied white dress trailing in her wake.

The woman's thoughts are an open book, but also a tangled and erratic mess of flaring emotions and passing whims. "Fiery" would be a good way to sum her up. You glean intense curiosity and amusement, the kind that would push the big red button just to see the fireworks. Flashes of annoyance at random things, that fizzle without a trace. A blazing passion that permeates everything she is. She seems to speak without forethought, letting her instincts and impulses guide her - she probably couldn't lie if she tried, save when it's in her very nature to be misleading.

You do manage to pick a few relevant thoughts out of the mental cacophony:
- You recognized the images of several of the books that flashed through Claire's mind as she mentioned them. They belonged to Diana, and were mostly old volumes about mythology and prewar Pokemon research. Haku had helped you skim through some of them in the past.

- The broken piece of glass was just a chunk of some ornament or other from the Gym. Claire had seen the piece of the Blue Orb, vaguely knew its worth from the books, figured you'd come looking for it, and thought your reactions would be hilarious if you saw "it" destroyed so casually right in front of you. The real Orb piece is among what was stolen northward.

- The "something awful pretty" from Meteor Falls is a girl they found wandering nearby and kidnapped. The same one trying to tacklehug Kira, in fact. They'd suspected some group or tribe had been harrying them from the north on several occasions over the past years, but never found any evidence of their actual existence until now.

[Esprit15]

"Anyways, with three of us, that seems like more than enough to get Buckley and Artemis back safely. Everyone else, stay safe, and try to keep an eye out for Artemis's Tailow if you can." Unless there is more to be said, Gwen goes to check that their two injured are well enough to head out.

[Mokou-tan]

Haku

It took all of the former bandit's willpower not to take a swipe at Claire. "Not Saya..." It was a futile attempt at denying the name Claire had referred to her as. Even if her mannerisms were very different than when she was a bandit, her appearance hadn't changed much at all. Seeing someone leap at Kira caused Haku to reflexively interpose herself between the two to protect her friend.

[The Walrus]

"A courier system would be a great idea, actually. There are enough Tailow nearby that someone could likely raise them into Swellow and set up some routes for at least the nearby region."

"If we're gonna try to set up a route between Verdanturf and Mauville, I'm not sure if those 'new' Mauville guys would be cool with us setting up any sort of base here. Hmm. Maybe they'd let us if we said they could use our birds sometimes."

K is bringing the water sample with her, just to be clear.

[Merilan]

Kira

Kira's reaction was to reach out and exclaim, "No--"

And then Claire revealed it all to be a big hoax. Even if she could glimpse it in her mind, Kira still found it very surprising; she shook her head and almost didn't catch the signature of the white-dressed girl running to her, and faltered as Haku interposed herself between them... she could sense some of the hesitation and anxiety in her friend, and pulled her head towards the two again.

"She prefers Haku, now," she defended her ex-bandit friend. "But... what do you mean by 'sis'? Do we know each other...?"

[Elfbird]

Team Westward
Kira, Haku, Victoria

The blond girl hits Haku like a brick, but the former bandit manages to brace herself and stay upright while catching her. The girl squeezes Haku in a hug while peering at Kira over her shoulder. "Huh? You don't look like Sis, but you definitely smell like xir. Why's that? Hey, wanna play with me? My name's Chi! What's yours?"

Claire scowls darkly at Chi, but steps back and turns on her heels to return to the Devon building with her bodyguards. She calls out without looking back. "Meteor Falls, two days from tomorrow! Come or don't!"

The commotion draws more curious looks from the scattered bandits, but still none feel inclined to approach you. Although wherever you spend the night, best sleep with one eye open...

Chi's mind is closed to Kira for now; touching it is like hitting solid steel, despite outward appearances.

[Merilan]

"I smell... like your sister...?" Kira whispered, before tilting her head. "Ah, my name is Kira."

She paused for a moment, then echoed to Victoria and Haku telepathically, I think it would be best if we followed their lead for now. I personally do not know the way forward to Meteor Falls where our objective is... and that child, Chi... she was taken from there...? It's a bit vague to me... Haku, is that all right with you?

[Matanui3]

Before the other three girls and their wards leave, Hazel approches them with an idea.

"We'll go ahead to the east, but we'll have to leave some kind of trail so you can catch up if we don't find Rose before you get back here. I'm open to any suggestions as to what to do other than having Thumper gouge markings in the trees on the way."

-----

After the other group left to Verdanturf, Hazel turns to the girl who had remained.

"So, er, Mina, right? I don't relish spending today sitting around waiting for the other three to get back, so we should probably get started soon. I'll be ready in a moment, and we can go."

Checking on Thumper one more time, Hazel runs her through a few more exercises to be sure there was no lasting injuries from yesterday's events, then returns her to her pokeball.

XP training and Brutal Training applied, at some point this morning, probably

[Mokou-tan]

Haku lightly tried to peel Chi off herself without being rough. In her own mind she would reply to Kira with her thoughts, which happened to be the most efficient method of communication for the pair anyway. We'll need to sleep in shifts just in case. I do not mind this course of action as it appears to be the most promising answer to our solution. The two days will give us time to scavenge and me time to train our friends.

[Nyna]

Emi Konda - Team KondaKart

Emi would slow the cart to a stop as the light began growing dim. "Looks like it's time to make camp, everybody. It's too dangerous to travel in the darkness with a cart; we're liable to get stuck in the mud or break a wheel on a rock or something." She'd hop off the cart, beginning to untether Fila from the cart, before moving to make a small campfire and begin cooking up some of the food they'd brought along.

Emi attempts to harvest Sitrus Berries from her Grower: [roll0]

Emi cooks up a Sour Candy for Antheia, a Salty Surprise for Fila, and a Dry Wafer for Belka.

Sour Candy: +10 damage reduction vs one physical attack, +1 evasion against damaging attacks for the scene.

Salty Surprise: 15 temp HP.

Dry Wafer: +10 additional damage with one special attack, +1 effect range on attacks for the scene.

If these items are eaten by a different pokemon that doesn't have them as a favorite, or a trainer, they have a lesser effect. Check Emi's sheet.

Finally, with the remaining $100 food scrap, Emi will use $50 of it to turn the Sitrus Berry into 2 Sour Sitrus Preserves. These have the same effect as a Sitrus Berry (restore 15 HP), but also give +1 evasion against damaging attacks if the user doesn't dislike Sour stuff, and can only be consumed as an extended action. The other $40 will be used to create an Enriched Water, leaving $10 food scrap leftover for storage for now.

[Mura-neechan]

Meian Tensaiji

Pouting a bit, the girl would slip out of the wagon herself, reaching into her bag, producing a small bag filled with all kinds of fairly gross looking things. But it was what Emi had requested~ Meian was no bum, after all, and quickly looking over Emi's shoulder, the girl would quietly whisper in the girl's ear. "I'll help~ It'll be twice as fast with two people cooking."

((Producing 50 Pokedollars worth of ingredients for babyfoodmakin.))

[ptdapen]

Yukike Kamira

Kamira had not said much when the team split in two; it was not in her nature to say goodbye. She had been certain, and still was, that she would see Kira back in Verdanturf.

The psychic outcast was ready to follow whatever the kart duo had to say. She was, however, a bit jealous when Belka gleefully took the snack offered to her. Kamira thought of nabbing it from her, perhaps even crushing it, but ultimately decided her Pokemon's happiness was worth the indignity.

"What's so important about going this way anyways?" Kamira asked. She decided to not waste any time trying and used Mind Reader on the chef to get the answers that she wanted. "Anyways, we should find a way to make sure this camp is safe. Any suggestions?"

Telepathy is on as usual (-2 AP)
Mind Reader spent on Emi.

[Hailfire]

Mina
Mina rolled her shoulders, before crouching down and examining the ground for Rose's trail.

"Yeah, gimme a second to figure this out."

There was an odd pull for her, between the innate duty she felt to provide her skills to others as had been drilled into her, and the her more mercenary instincts that rebelled against assisting in such a matter. Now that the oppressive feeling of being in town had vanished into memory, she remembered why 'never volunteer' was the motto of so many.

Of course, that she was doing so to help someone that she didn't necessarily hate was a point in its favour and she obviously wouldn't back out now, but there was something about this that still rankled.

Mina attempts to follow Rose's trail
Survival Check: [roll0]

Been getting trolled by the servers for the past half hour trying to post this :\

[Revenant9]

Victoria had been about to do something stupid like drawing her sword when the redhead, Claire, dropped what she believed was the shard they were looking for, only to grind her teeth in anger when the woman explained it was just a prank. That was not funny, Victoria thought.

The more Claire talked, the more annoyed Victoria got, not that she was letting that show. In the end, Victoria had to be somewhat grateful. Now they had a real lead as to where the thief had gone. As much as I hate it, it’s probably best to go with them, Victoria mused. Then again, is back up worth having if you can’t trust it? I suppose I can trust their desire to get their stolen goods back if nothing else. I wonder what Kira and Haku think. Her thoughts would be answered later, literally.

Victoria wasn’t quite sure what to make of the blonde kid that tried to hug Kira and ended up hugging Haku instead. Strange girl… she can ‘smell’ her sister on Kira? Victoria shook her head. She wasn’t going to be able to make sense of this. Best leave it to the others.

Victoria was about to voice her previous thoughts and ask Kira and Haku what they thought, when a voice entered her mind. Victoria nodded, although the telepath responsible wouldn’t be able to see it. I agree, we should go with them, she answered in her mind.

[Nyna]

Emi Konda - Team KondaKart

In response to Kamira's question, Emi would smile, looking up from cleaning up her cooking supplies around the campfire. "Well, I suppose we should keep watches? Just try not to fall asleep when it's your turn~" Kamira wouldn't find much of interest to read, as per usual, Emi was thinking about whatever it was she was talking about, and had just been thinking about ways to make her food more interesting.

Emi will make a Baby Food for Meian with the $50 pokebucks that she was provided.

[Mokou-tan]

Haku

Haku gave Kira's sleeve a bit of a tug. They had two days and it would be best to make the most of it. Back in the past, we would search the city for extra supplies. You can actually find quite a bit in here. I would suggest searching the area in a group tomorrow. If we pick a building with few entrances, taking turns standing guard with our pokemon will be a simple matter. I would prefer if you relayed my suggestion for me.

[Elfbird]

Just to make sure I have this right:
Gwen > Verdanturf
K > Verdanturf
Rachel > Verdanturf
Taking Artemis, Buckley, the Steel Fragment, the Dynamo Badge, and the Water Sample with you

Hazel > East (rt. 118)
Mina > East

Team Eastward
Hazel, Mina

The ruins of Mauville dwindle behind you toward a thin treeline, on the other side of which is a beach and sand bar that bridges the Fortree River during low tide - it's currently receding, a narrow bridge exposed.

Rose wasn't being too careful with her trail, clearly focused on speed over stealth. Her footprints follow along the pattern of windblown leaves and sand, racing eastward. The trail vanishes at the bridge, of course - it would have been covered by the tide since Rose's passing. It might continue on the other side, however.

Pacing on the bridge is a very soggy, very distraught Electrike being heckled by Wingull. They seem to spit water at it, nonharmfully, from the safety of the river, laughing incessantly; then stop it from leaving the bridge with Water Guns whenever it tries to make a break. So it simply paces, enduring the torment and growing increasingly fowlfoul-tempered. The first thing that comes within reach is going to be in for a heck of a shock.

Map will be up in a few hours. Mina and Hazel can see this from far enough away that you can plan your approach before entering combat/initiative range.
Map is up, and initiative is on a tab in the shipping chart. PCs are up whenever you're ready to begin - feel free to discuss it beforehand if you wish. You can place yourselves anywhere on the western beach.



Team Verdanturf
Gwen, Rachel, K

You make it back to Verdanturf in the early evening without incident, your large group making enough commotion to frighten off wilds made lazy by the heat of the day.
You pass by the ruined cart again, this time sans Pokemon hidden underneath and the fire burnt out. Do you want to drag it back to town for repair, or break down the useful bits for easily-carried scrap?

(Events in town spoiler'd for length; they're open to all three of you IC)
Almost as soon as you three pass through the gate, Anna Ryker runs up waving her arms excitedly.
"Gals, gals! I've got the most exciting news! You just missed the announcement, but I heard you coming in and couldn't wait to tell you!"
The dyed-redhead pauses for a quick breath.

"My sisters and I are setting up a national trade network! One of us just got in from Lavaridge while you were gone, with a whole cartload of goods! She struck a deal with the mercenaries up there to provide protection in exchange for-- wait no I'm not talking about contracts, I'm talking about GOODS! They ain't free, of course, but any price is reasonable for the kinds of luxuries we haven't had since before the war~!"
You can practically see the dollar signs flashing in her eyes.

"We're just getting started, so there's not a whole lot right now that we couldn't make ourselves. But trade us your scraps and junk, and we'll send it around the world to where it can be used! And in return, we'll have access to those goods almost anywhere~! Along with sweet, sweet profits..."

"Pass the word along wherever you can! And visit me or my sisters for all of your shopping needs! There's a strong family resemblance - you can't miss us!"
Anna waves a quick farewell and scampers back to her sister's wagon, which is currently set up as a makeshift booth with various articles displayed on a Zigzagoon-print cloth. Standing together, the sisters look practically identical, right down to the shade of their hair and stains on their clothes.

You can trade any scrap here for Pokedollars and vise-versa at a 1:1 ratio. Here are the usable goods currently available:

Basic Ball - 300p - 20 in stock
Potion - 300p - 20 in stock
Antidote - 300p - 12 in stock
Burn Heal - 300p - 15 in stock
X Accuracy - 900p - 1 in stock
Dire Hit - 900p - 1 in stock
Max Repel - 1,200p - 1 in stock

Bandages - 350p - 9 in stock
Basic Rope - 5p per foot - 500ft in stock
Bait - 250p - 10 in stock
Honey - 250p - 8 in stock
First Aid Kit - 1,000p - 3 in stock
2-person tent - 2,000p - 4 in stock
Lighter - 200p - 10 in stock
Flashlight - 400p - 5 in stock
Water Filter - 750p - 3 in stock

Iron sword - 500p - 1 in stock (crude small melee weapon)
Iron axe - 500p - 1 in stock (crude large melee weapon)
Sling - 600p - 1 in stock (crude short range weapon)

If there is something specific you want, let Anna know and she can try to procure it for you, with free pickup in any major settlement - though it will take several days at the least.

Mayor Diana seems to have aged a year in the two days you were gone. She's weary, but will listen to your reports seriously and offer what help she can. She grants you free reign to pursue your leads however you see fit, with regret that Verdanturf can spare little more to assist them just now.

Oldale Priestess attack:
Diana is very concerned about this news. She will make sure to increase the watch and limit excursions until things are better understood. It has been a long time since they've had contact with the southern settlements, so she can offer nothing that K wouldn't already know.

Water Sample:
Verdanturf doesn't have the machines to analyze it, but Anna might be able to use her connections to find and send it somewhere that can.

Dynamo Badge:
Nostalgia overcomes Diana at the sight of it, and will gently clutch it for a moment if allowed. "Not many know this secret anymore: the eight gym badges serve as keys to sealed places all over Hoenn, established by the Leaders and Elite Four before the war for times of great need. Knowledge of these places has been all but lost with the Leaders' passing, and the badges themselves nearly as scarce. Please, Rachel, take care of this, and may it aid you in Leader Wattson's stead."

Steel Fragment:
Something about the engraved triangle strikes Diana as familiar; she's frustrated at being unable to place it, and the book that would help is among what had been stolen. She recognizes the dots as braille - it's the kind of writing that Kira reads, though usually the dots are raised instead of indented. She had a book that would help translate it, and she could copy the key for you. Unfortunately, neither will be possible until Kira, Haku, and/or the stolen goods make their way back to Verdanturf.

Investigation:
The investigation in Verdanturf as to the thief's identity is still underway. However, Diana fears they have a prime suspect: Jodi the technician vanished last night, whereabouts unknown. A few huntresses already went out to try to track her, but won't be due back until tomorrow at the soonest.

Is there anything else you want to report to or ask of Diana?

Erin and Doc Meera are still recuperating when you bring Buckley and Artemis into the PokeCenter.

Huntresses:
After exchanging relieved greetings and information, Erin doesn't have anything to add to what Artemis was able to tell you. Erin had been taken out fairly early in the ambush and couldn't see much from her hiding place in the bushes.

Meera:
Meera is still unconscious but stable. Nurse Joy tells you that they had to fire up the recovery machine shortly after you'd left, but she'll be fine now with a bit of rest. Meera's Misdreavus tries to nibble at her owner's restraining straps, but her toothless little mouth has no effect.

Where do you want to go next, and with a rest in town or not? You have about 4 hours of daylight left, after the 8 hour walk back from Mauville and checking in with everyone.
There's no easy route from Verdanturf to Oldale. You can go:
- East to Mauville, then south and west, fording the inlet to Mauport Bay. (Medium length, low danger, low loot)
- West to Rustboro, then south through Petalburg Woods and east through Petalburg. (Longest length, medium danger, high loot)
- Directly south, forging a path through the toxic jungle. It's highly inadvisable, but the shortest path, and establishing a safe path could do wonders for Anna's trade enterprise... (Shortest length, high danger, ??? loot)

If you spend the night in Verdanturf, that should be enough time for your team to get back to 100% health and 0 injuries - one of the nurses can drain the AP to heal Hellebore's second injury.

The two Westward groups are a day behind the Eastward groups IC. However, it seems likely that they aren't returning to Verdanturf anyway, so assume no word about the recovery of the stolen goods unless you expressly decide to wait in Verdanturf until they return in an indefinite number of days.



Team Westward
Kira, Haku, Victoria

Chi reluctantly lets Haku peel her off, then stands with hands clasped and staring intently at Kira, clearly holding herself back from tacklehugging her not-Sis. She makes soft, wordless murmurs to herself, but says nothing more for now. She'll probably follow Kira anywhere unless you make a concerted effort to stop her.
None of you recognize Chi, or recall Kira having any siblings in the time you've known her...

If things remain as Haku remembers them, the old Gym is one of the most defensible structures in Rustboro, for those who can stand the darkness and claustrophobia. In its heyday, it had been filled with literal tons of rock to design an obstacle course for challengers. It collapsed under the bombs and quakes, forming a semi-natural cave. It seems to be stable, having done years ago whatever crumbling and shifting it was going to do.

The bandits avoid it due to fearful superstitions and paranoia. They say people and their Pokemon were hiding inside when it first collapsed and were buried alive. "If you listen closely, you can still hear their screams and scraping echoing endlessly inside the tunnels..."

Of course, from time to time some bold woman would make her den or horde inside. She would boast for a few days, a few months, then mysteriously vanish, or suffer an unfortunate accident... Not that those are uncommon for any bandit, given their lifestyle and company.



Team KondaKart
Emi, Meian, Kamira

You find an acceptable clearing for setting up camp along the forest path and set to work~
The gently crackling fire is nice and cozy as the sun sets and temperature drops. Wind whispers through the treetops, but their trunks shield you from the worst of the chill. Emi's cooking fills the clearing with the deliciously tangy scent of sitrus berries.
...The locals seem to agree, as you begin to hear rustling sounds from all around you in the darkened forest.

Map is up and mostly revealed in Roll20; set yourselves up as you like, then I'll reduce visibility accordingly and place wilds.
The fire and Fila both grant 2 meters of visibility; everyone else has 1 meter. Trees block light, of course.
All three of you should be able to move the cart and fire pit. You can also rotate the cart to make it go vertical instead of horizontal.

...If there's enough food, this could totally be a Disney scene xD

[Merilan]

Kira

Kira found it a bit strange that Chi was so insistent on following her, but she... she couldn't rely on her memory. Was she related to her in some way? Did she ... forget? There were so many things she couldn't remember, that she started to doubt herself. But Haku had a plan, and it's best that they focused on what's to come, rather than what could be, nodding.

She looked to Victoria to say, Let us use the following day to investigate Rustboro, we ought to be able to procure extra supplies and maybe even a companion or two. We'll take turns standing guard to ensure we aren't trapped in or flanked. Did you want to examine the Gym, Victoria, Haku?

[gmoyes]

Rachel Matthews- Route 117

As the group approached their previous battleground, Rachel eyed the burned out cart. "Do any of you think that its gonna be worth bringing that thing back? I can certainly drag it if need be."

***

Verdanturf

As the five young women entered the town, they were greeted by the energetic Anna saying that she got a bunch items in stock from Lavaridge. Rachel gave a slightly weary smile back. "Great to hear. We just got back from Mauville and we are hoping to stock up for a longer journey. I'll take a look at what you've got." Rachel hummed to herself a little shopping tune (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfqcH9KPuIQ) as she picked out a length of rope and some medical equipment. While she hardly knew the basics, at the very least the kit would prevent someone from bleeding out. As she made the exchange of some scrap electronics, Rachel gave the shopkeeper a question. "You know, I've heard that Lavaridge was an awesome place before the war. The hot springs were legendary. It's great that you have a sister working there. What's it like nowadays?"

If applicable to this, spending 1 AP to use song of courage to get +2 to skills.
Charm for info about Lavaridge: [roll0]
Spending 25$ and 1025$ worth of scrap for 50ft of rope and a first aid kit.

***

Mayor Diana

When the three of them gave their report as well at the items they found and Diana's response to the Dynamo badge, Rachel gave a frown in thought. "The badge is a key? I thought it was just a token, a symbol that a trainer had beaten a gym. At most, I've heard rumours that they could power up the holder's Pokemon. But an actual key?" She examine the yellow badge. Of course those challenging gyms got the cool toys while coordinators like her mom got the shaft. Then again, who knows if contest ribbons had any significance? "It almost feels wrong for me to be holding this. All I did was pick it up up off the ground. I didn't battle for it, I hardly ever battle at all!" She sighed and gave a shake of her head. "Whatever, that's rather irrelevant now. If I would hazard a guess the door for this would probably be part of New Mauville. Seems like an obvious connection."

***

Ellen Matthews

After reporting to the Mayor, Rachel went home to talk to her mom to get her input on the current matters. She was pretty much the strongest trainer in town and she herself had travelled the region twenty-odd years ago. Rachel was pretty sure that if her mom really wanted to, she could beat anyone in town in a battle. It would certainly be a surprising show. "Hey Mom, look at this!" she said showing off the Dynamo badge. "Picked it up in Mauville, the first day after leaving town. I bet you didn't have your first ribbon this soon," Rachel said jokingly. With a brief laugh, she then turned to more serious matters. "We'll be heading back out soon, do you have any info or anything like with the contest halls and such? Also I had an idea to help our travels. You might want to bring this up with Diana, but I was thinking of making some sort of Pokemon courier system so if we have any majorly injured Pokemon or need any supplies we can send a flyer to town to pick things up. Though we may need to call on your Talon to make large deliveries or if one of us girls goes down and needs to be taken to be healed. What do you think?"

I'll leave what species Talon is up to the GM.

[Mokou-tan]

Haku

Haku considered their options. While people were superstitious about the gym, that only made it a superior spot to camp out. Nobody would want to attack them in there. The gym is the most secure spot to set up. Those that live here have a fear of the place. Even if the superstitions are true, we're only staying a few nights, so we'll be fine. Some bandits went months and were okay. With her personal decision made, the gym would be good to investigate even if Victoria had objections about staying, so she began to lead the others towards it.

[Esprit15]

The Cart
"I would say so. It may slow us down a bit, but it could be good for hauling supplies, or if anyone gets injured. A broken leg would be crippling out here," Gwen says, looking the wooden structure over.

Anna
Gwen listens quietly as the merchant gushes about her trade network, smiling a little. It has a lot of potential in bringing the world back to how it was before the war, both in goods available and in reconnecting cities and communities. Following the red head to her cart, Gwen looks through some of the supplies. Eh... Meh... Out of her price range, for the most part - Ooh! The girl's hands find their way to a lighter, flipping it over in her fingers, sparking it a few times. "Is this enough scrap to trade for a lighter?"
200 wooden scrap for a lighter!

Diana
"Do you want us to go and investigate Oldale, or let you send a group to try and make diplomatic connections, or plan for fighting if need be? Not that we need to know right away, but you know where to reach us. I imagine that we'll be spending the night here before heading back out tomorrow morning, so any time before then will be enough to redirect the group. We still have one of the girls unaccounted for, and it looked like she continued East. The rest of the group is heading that way in hopes of bringing her back, or at least confirming death."

Before leaving, Gwen remembers the plate. "Can you keep info about the plate quiet for now? If Jodi stole something and vanished, it may be that there are other people in town that are less than trustworthy. It may be for the best that we keep this more secret. How soon tomorrow should Jodi's trackers be back?"

The Injured
After making sure everyone was in good care at the Center, Gwen parts with a hug with Artemis, going by her friend's home to let Celine know that her daughter was found and should be okay.

Unless Oldale is said to be urgent, despite Gwen mentioning staying overnight, I'm for turning around and reaching Mauville sooner than later.

[Revenant9]

That sounds like a good plan, Kira, Victoria thought back. We can investigate the Gym, sure.

Victoria had no real problems with the plan that Kira was proposing. She was a little worried about how the guard was going to relay information of a possible attack quickly enough to warn the others before being assaulted, but Victoria was quite fast on her legs, so it shouldn't be a problem.

I see Haku agrees, or hope so at least, Victoria thought, as the other girl began leading the group towards what Victoria assumed was the gym. How does she know where anything is in this place? She must have been here before. I thought us Verdanturfers usually avoid Rustboro. Victoria was unknowingly also broadcasting these thoughts to Kira.

Idly Victoria wished she knew what Haku was thinking. Not knowing what was going on in her head was a bother. And what a novel bother that was. Victoria didn't usually wish she could read minds, although after meeting Kira she had sometimes wondered what it would be like.

[Merilan]

Kira

Kira knelt by Chi before they entered the Gym and patted her on the head gently. "We are going to stay here for the night. If you want to accompany us, you can, but you must be brave... okay?"

Once inside, she accompanied the other two in investigating, though... she appeared to be more reliant on Freie more than anything. The rocks do not speak to her, after all. But she kept her mind peeled open for the noises to see if they originated from any living -- or unliving, as the case may be -- things within.

Eventually, though, there was nothing left to do but to make camp. Kira made sure that they had a relatively defensible position, before lowering herself to prepare and clear an area. She kept her first aid kit nearby, and released both Hanayo and Freie to stand guard. Take turns and keep us alert, please. Do not be afraid.

She paused, then turned to Haku and Victoria with a quiet smile. "We should retire for the night... I can help stand watch first."

[Matanui3]

"Look at all those stupid birds, tormenting an electric type. They're just lucky it doesn't seem to have learned any ranged attacks yet. I think a flying-type is just what I need to round out my team, at least until Thumper evolves. Let's see if we can't get a few to come this way."

Stepping onto the beach with her cannon in her hands, Hazel yells "Hey, featherbrains, why don't you pick on someone who can pick back?" and takes a shot at one of the nearer birds.
Thumper is still in his ball, as he isn't likely to be useful against ranged, flying, water-types.

Cannon Struggle on Wingull 1: 4 (in r20) vs AC 5
Damage: missed
19 ammo remains

[Elfbird]

Team KondaKart
Emi, Meian, Kamira

A Zigzagoon comes sniffing at the edge of the firelight, clearly wary but overcome by curiosity and temptation at the smell of Emi's cooking.
There's also a Wurmple creeping down the tree behind Emi, and another caught in Fila's radiance. (Can a Wurmple look surprised?)
All of them have a strange, sickly look to them, yet their behavior appears naturally energetic...

You can hear other things rustling beyond your field of vision; Antheia in particular seems to notice something... interesting?

The wilds are not currently aggressive, but seem like they would be easily startled. What will you do?



Team Westward
Kira, Haku, Victoria

Chi nods seriously at Kira's admonition. "Yes! I'll be brave, Si--Kira!"
While you're settling into your little cubby to camp, once Chi becomes a little more comfortable, she closes her eyes and starts feeling all the weirdly-textured rocks along the walls. "Is this what it's like to be blind, Kirasis? Eheh~ It's kinda fun, like a whole new world at my fing--eh? Hmm..."
There's a brief sound of grinding stone, then a small crash and a surprised yelp from Chi.
"H-hey, there's stuff inside! It's like a birthday party! Come feel this, Kirasis~"
Now full of excitement, Chi scoops both arms into the alcove and dumps a pile of stuff by the medicine kit at Kira's feet. Going by feel, or if Victoria lends her flashlight or Slugma...
- 5 Basic Balls
- 2 sealed Potions
- 600p medical scrap (spoiled potions & other restoratives)
- 300p food scrap
- 500p smith scrap (small ingots and stones)
- 1 X-Sp.Atk
- A number of...small bones?
It's subtle, but the incessant scuffling noises seem to get louder...



Currently waiting on:
- Mina to place and act in the eastern theater
- Victoria to place in the western theater
- K to post IC in Verdanturf

No rush! Just letting you know where we are.

[Revenant9]

Victoria nodded at Kira. "In that case I'll take the second watch," she said, grateful that she could rest up a little first.

Victoria heard the commotion Chi was causing and came over. Releasing her Slugma into the ground to get some light, she peered into the apparent treasure trove that the girl had found only to be pleasantly surprised at what she found. "Those ingots and stones will be very useful for me, I hope you don't mind if I claim them?" Even as she was saying this, she was already putting them into a container in her pack for later. It was an unnecessary gesture, since she could just leave them in the box, it wasn't as if anyone would steal them, but she was feeling a little possessive. There was a certain gleam in her eyes as she thought of things she could craft with these materials.

Once she was done packing the stones, she did as Kira suggested and got ready to get some rest, but the scuffling sounds were getting louder and made it a little hard to sleep.

"Ilya, Sabah, look out for the source of that noise, please," Victoria said, a little annoyance bleeding into her voice.

[Merilan]

Kira

Kira had to rely on the others to see what they'd uncovered, but she was surprised that there was a stash inside. Did someone hide this a long time ago, or...? "That is fine by me, Victoria," Kira answered as she patted Chi on the head, perhaps gentle by nature and not wanting to push the girl away. Besides, she could hold the key to a mystery about her scrambled memories.

"Whatever could that sound be, I wonder..."

[Mokou-tan]

Haku

All Haku took from the supplies was a single ball, leaving the rest for the others to take. She nonchalantly tossed out her balls, releasing Rin and Maya and quietly directed them to their positions. The diminutive maiden rolled out her sleeping bag and gave Kira a light tug. It's big enough for two and right here, so if you'd like, I wouldn't mind sharing with you.

Also spending 2 AP to remove Rincada's injury.

[Merilan]

Kira

Kira paused, then nodded as she approached Haku and echoed back in return. Yes, if you do not mind... I really ought to have spoken with the seamstress about a sleeping bag, but this pre-empted that...

[Mokou-tan]

Haku

Under the cover of the dark, the former bandit grinned as she turned away. We've shared before, haven't we? No need for you to get your own as long as I'm around. Anyway, I'm going to look around a bit more, I'll shout if I come under attack. She slowly tapped both Rin and Maya, indicating for them to follow as she searched around.

Perception checks looking for more things that may have been left behind or the sound's source.
Haku: [roll0]
Rin: [roll1]
Maya: [roll2]

Stealth to get the drop on anything.
Haku: [roll3]
Rin: [roll4]
Maya: [roll5]

[Hailfire]

Mina

A single moment was spent on glaring daggers into the back of Hazel's skull, before Mina rushed forward to take point (as she was pretty sure she'd be better in the line of fire than the girl with the artillery piece). They didn't have a Growlithe in this fight, but it looked like that didn't matter to her travelling companion (Arceus damn bleeding hearts). Now, the damage was done. There was no chance of avoiding this and the only answer left was to fight it out and get it over with. A quick motion released Drake into the water. Though she was often ungainly when forced to walk, the Psyduck was almost 'speedy' in her natural habitat.

Mina took a deep breath, focusing on that familiar, centred feeling inside, before issuing a single command to her pokemon (accompanied with a pointing gesture).

"Drake! Whammy on that bird!"

Mina moved up as her 'initial placing' and released Drake into the water.
Mina used Bulk Up and moved towards the Elektrike, putting her within striking distance of the two closest Wingull
Drake moved closer to Wingull 1
Drake used Confusion on Wingull 1
AC Roll: 1D20 = 17 (as per Roll20)
DMG Roll: 1D8+8+16 = 30 (as per Roll20)

[ptdapen]

Yukike Kamira

"It appears that the food has drawn out some hungry creatures," Kamira noted to the others. She crossed her arms and pondered on the situation. She had no idea how many wild Pokemon might be lurking about. It was a rare occasion that made her finally stop teleporting about needlessly. "I have no particular skill in handling them; I will defer to you two."

[The Walrus]

Rachel Matthews- Route 117
As the group approached their previous battleground, Rachel eyed the burned out cart. "Do any of you think that its gonna be worth bringing that thing back? I can certainly drag it if need be."


"Oooh, oooh, I can pull it!" K said, eager to demonstrate her strength. She became markedly less eager after the first hour of dragging the cart, and after the second hour...

"Ooph... Hey, Rachel, maybe you should take a turn with this. This cart is already kinda damaged, and I'm afraid that if I keep pulling this, I might accidentally twitch my muscles too hard or something and rip it in half."

When the team arrived at Verdanturf, K rushed over to see how Erin was doing.

"Hey, Erin! You're alive! That's good, because I was kinda worried that you were gonna turn out to be the 'dead' person in Doc Meera's bloody prophecy thing, but I guess that was some other people. ...actually, it's not just 'some other people', it was three of the other huntresses you went with. I don't know their names, but they were the ones who weren't Artemis or Rose. Actually, Rose might be dead too, we don't really know... Whoa, I am just being a total downer here, aren't I? Let's talk about other things. Like, Saki! How's she doing? Also, I heard from someone that you were mentioning Razz berries just before you passed out yesterday. What was up with that?"

Afterwards, K investigated the Ryker sisters' new stand.

"Oh hey, Anna and uh... Anna's sister! That looks like a lot of cool stuff you got there! I have some cool stuff, too! See all this? It's got like, wires and circuits and crap so you just know it's gotta be brimming with that old-style techno-magic! If you wired this up correctly, it could probably, I don't know, shoot lightning bolts or calculate the square root of infinity or something awesome like that! And all of it can be yours, and yours alone, in exchange for not five, not four, not three, but two - that's right, you heard me correctly - just two of those pokeballs there!"

K shoved fistfuls of assorted electronic junk at the Ryker sisters.

"Wait! I know you're about to ask 'If this stuff is really so valuable, why are you giving it away in such an incredible bargain?' But I can explain! You see, I'm maybe not the best at wrapping my head around how to work with all this techno stuff, so these treasures of the past don't have a lot of value to me. But you two look really smart, so I bet you'd be great at making use of this!"

K trades the 200p of technology scrap from the abandoned cart, plus 400p of the technology scrap found in the gym for 2 basic balls.

"Oh, hey, I have this favor to ask, too. I got this," K said, pulling out the potion bottle with the water sample from the Mauville lake " from a lake near Mauville. Erin and Artemis both said they saw Suicune in that lake, so I bet the water has some sort of holy or magical properties now. Since you probably know a lot of people from all your trading and stuff, maybe you know someone who could study this to see what exactly it can do? Say, the lake probably isn't too far out of your way on the route from here to Lavaridge. Maybe you could start bottling the water there and selling it as special Suicune blessed water or something. With the proper marketing, people would eat that right up! You'd sell hundreds of units! ...that hot business tip is worth, like, a potion or something in exchange, right? No? Well, I'd still appreciate it if you could get this checked out somewhere," K said, and handed over the water sample.

Afterwards, K stopped by the mayor's office in time to overhear part of what Gwen was saying.

"Wait, so knowledge about this plate thing is top-secret? And you're just telling me this now? If I'd have known that earlier, I could have been bragging to everyone about how I know a mysterious secret! Actually, wait, it's not too late to go do that right now! See ya!" K started to run out the door, but stopped.

"Whoa, Gwen, you must have like, psychic powers or something because even though I'm not looking at you and I'm ignoring everything you're saying, I can somehow sense your disapproval! Or maybe that means I have psychic powers? Anyhoo, you're probably right. I guess I'd better not brag about this, no matter how much fun it would it be..."

K started to leave again, then turned around.

"Wait, there was a reason I came here, wasn't there? I remember now! I wanted to make a drawing of that plate in case we ever meet someone who knows how to translate it."

Using some more paper she had 'borrowed' from the pokecenter when she was visiting Erin, K made a drawing of the plate, copying down the pattern of lines and indentations as best as she could.

[Esprit15]

As K talks about making a copy of the plate, Gwen butts in. "Hey, you know that thing I said about keeping the plate secret? I meant it. What if someone mugged you when you inevitably mention some secret? I wouldn't trust myself to hold onto it, much less a blather mouth like you. No, we keep the copy here, and let the blind girl in town feel it over when she gets back."

[Elfbird]

Team Eastward
Mina, Hazel

Hazel's cannonball startled the Wingull as she dropped below its arc, not entirely by choice - her wing movements are stiff and jerky, but their design focused on gliding lets her turn the dive into a spiral and get away from the crazy human.

To the north, Drake's attack elicits a pained squawk and a desperate Water Gun before that Wingull turns tail and flees!

Mina's approach along the bridge finally gives the Electrike a target to vent its pent-up rage on - and does it ever! Mina manages to remain standing, but she's not going to forget that shock anytime soon! The Electrike isn't going to forget Mina's fist either!

Rolls in Roll20
Wingull 2 & 3 fail their Paralysis checks: they are Vulnerable until the end of their next turns, and cannot make AoOs.

Wingull 2: No action
Wingull 3: Shift eastward

*Round 2*

Wingull 1: Water Gun -> Drake: 11 damage
Wingull 4: Shift westward to see what all the fuss is about
Mina: Sucker Punch -> Electrike: 32 damage
Electrike: Spark -> Mina: Critical! 57 damage, Paralysis

Hazel and Drake are up!



Team Westward
Kira, Haku, Victoria

The click-clacking of the Nincadas' and Zigzagoons' claws on the concrete floor makes scouting unexpectedly difficult*, but the darkness also hones your other senses. Just as you're narrowing down your search area to the back half of the gym, a conversation in harsh whispers comes echoing in from outside the entrance. Haku hears it most clearly, but everyone can catch snippets if they listen carefully.

"Saw 'em go in here earlier..."
"Maybe this ain't such a good idea. Boss'll flay us if the... the ghosts don't get us first..."
"Boss says she don't want no trouble with the Verdanturfers? We do this right and there won't be no trouble - just lotsa loot an' a warning to all these damn foreigners trompin' our turf!"
"C'mon, it ain't like that Inami..."
"What about the ghosts? Nora went missing--"
"Alright, shut it! Just get in there, start lookin' and start knifin'! Next girl who makes a peep gets her tongue cut out!"

They don't appear to have any awareness of Haku yet. One stubs her toe on a rocky outcrop and barely muffles her yelp.
The voices all but mask some faint crumbling sounds inside - except where a shower of pebbles bursts from the alcove that Chi had revealed, narrowly missing Ilya!

*Not a mechanical effect, just explanation for all the poor rolls

I moved Haku, Rin, and Maya arbitrarily forward, since you mentioned going out to scout and it made the combat setup more interesting. You can rearrange them before they act if you think they'd be elsewhere.

These bandits have overall terrible Speed, so everyone in Team Westward acts before the NPC block. Initiative is on, but combat hasn't started yet - as long as the bandits remain unaware of you, they'll keep searching methodically, moving their Overland each round.



Team Verdanturf
Gwen, Rachel, K

Wow there's a lot, so I'm going to summarize a good bit for brevity this time.
You drop the cart off at the smithy; Brande's only response is a raised eyebrow, but she takes it back to start work. You can hear the muttered curses between hammerfalls as you depart.


Anna and her twin give each customer a hearty "Thank you for your business!" in unison, perfectly, every time.
When K brings the potentially-blessed water sample, the sisters share a dollar-sign-filled glance even before K begins her spiel.
The sister mentions a cousin who'd been traveling out east, and thinks getting the water sample to Lilycove could be a good start - they'll send it along as soon as the east-west connection is made.

In response to Rachel's inquiry about Lavaridge, Anna's sister immediately begins gushing. "Oh, it's amazing! You know how Mt. Chimney erupted and buried half the north coast in lava back during the war? The mercenaries there, Toni Orchardson's band, hollowed out the lava tubes and turned the place into a natural fortress. The walls are practically made of obsidian! Sucks that the hot springs dried up, but I heard they're planning a dig to see if they can't find the leak and get them working again! They've got some pretty amazing craftswomen there too - one even gave me this little piece as thanks for coming all the way up there! Isn't it just gorgeous? And then the-- oh, customers! I'm sorry, work before pleasure darling~"


Diana recommends that your group go to Oldale to assess the situation for yourselves; you're already mobilized and have a better grasp of things than anyone else in town, between having been to the scene at Mauville and K being a former resident of Verdanturf.
She also agrees with keeping the plate fragment a secret, for much the same reasons the orb piece had been secret until it was stolen.
She couldn't say when to expect Jodi's trackers - it depends on their luck, whether or not they manage to catch her, and what else they might encounter. Best not to wait on them if you have other things to attend.
Diana provides you with 6 Revives from a private stash for the mission, saying to use them with great care - there are very few left in the world, and even fewer who know how to craft them.


Rachel's mother enjoys reminiscing about the Pokemon journey of her youth, though whatever information she can offer firsthand comes from prewar times.
There were four Contest Halls, spread about similar to Gyms, with different ranks being held in each one. Every Coordinator began in Slateport, then to Verdanturf and Fallarbor, and the Master Rank Contests being held in Lilycove at the end of the journey - the point where those on the League Challenge would take to the sea to reach the last two Gyms and Victory Road in Evergrande City.
Contests had never held the sheer status and splendor that the League did, though Coordinators and fans formed a small but passionate community. She'd never heard of the gym badges as keys, but wouldn't be surprised if the contest ribbons held a similar secret.
Come to think of it, the last Champion, Wallace Mikuri, had also been an avid and skilled Coordinator...

Ellen approves of the courier service idea, and solemnly passes Talon's Pokeball to Rachel to get it started.
"Talon is the last of my companions from my own journey. She's seen and been through some terrible times, and lost as many dear friends as I have myself. I think the old girl would want a chance to watch over you, stretch her wings and long for the good old days she'd remember beyond these walls. She was quite the fighter and performer in her heyday, but the years and radiation have been catching up to her - she'll keep up with you whippersnappers, but don't push her too hard. Talon, Rachel... please take good care of each other."

Okay, I'm trying something a little different to balance IC sense with early-game mechanics.
Similar to an inversion of the baby template (but not exactly), Talon's default CS and Capabilities are permanently lowered. Additionally, every 5 levels she gains, she'll gain 2 permanent injuries - even if she never sees combat, she'll die at level 55. She'll also take a normal 50% injury after just one tick of damage, since she's stuck at 60% max HP.
Without further ado, the stats:

Skarmory Lv.40 (2230 EXP)
Timid nature
Abilities: Sturdy, Intimidate, Light Metal
3 Cool contest dice from poffins

All Talon's stats default to -4 CS
Talon has 4 permanent injuries
-1 rank in all species skills (bolded on the sheet)

Add those 50 level-up points accordingly:
HP: 5
Atk: 5
Def: 20
Sp.Atk: 5
Sp.Def: 5
Speed: 10

Final stats after CS should be:
HP: 86 (51 injured max)
Atk: 7
Def: 21
Sp.Atk: 6
Sp.Def: 8
Speed: 12
Endure
Brave Bird
Spikes
Steel Wing
Air Cutter
Iron Wind Stance (Innovation move, Template #1)
Type: Normal
Frequency: Scene
AC: None
Class: Status
Range: Self
Effect: The user generates 3 Contest Boons. These may be used as a Swift Action on their turn when declaring an attack (before Accuracy Roll) to gain a +3 bonus to Critical Hit Range for that attack.
Contest Effect: Cool - Get Ready!


Inherited:
Lv.20 - Curse (forgotten)
Lv.30 - Brave Bird
Lv.40 - Endure
Lv.50 - Sky Attack

Talon can relearn any forgotten moves as normal, if you find a tutor and the means to pay them.
Overland 2
Sky 7
Jump (H/L) 1/2
Power 3
Weight 2 (Light Metal)
Mountable 1


Team Verdanturf wants to head right back out to Rt.117 with the 4 hours of daylight you have left? You'd reach about the point where the wagon had been attacked between the lakes, unless you want to press through the night to Mauville proper before making camp.

[Merilan]

Kira

Kira frowned as she drew herself low, and then looked to Chi. She whispered, "Be a good girl and stay quiet, please. Hide in that alcove -- we will keep you safe." She pressed her hand to the cane. She couldn't see where Haku had went, but she trusted her to do her part, as she had in previous excursions.

She quieted down, and broadcasted her thoughts. Victoria, the darkness can be our ally. Let us not fight needlessly, and hold narrow points to keep them at bay. Also, they fear ghosts, so I wonder if we can prey on such fears...?

Hanayo chittered forward and bulked up, hardening her shell.


Hanayo uses Harden! Defense +1 CS.

[Mokou-tan]

Haku relaxed a bit as she heard her new enemies coming. One, two.... Six foes in all. One near her. With this knowledge, Haku prepared a trap. This was a game she was all too used to and the fact that her opponents thought they were hunting her made this the easiest. She sent Maya and Rin down a nearby path, with Rin on the ceiling. Maya hid behind a wall while making small noises to attract the prey while Rin waited to drop and act as the trap. As Rin waited, she hardened her carapace in anticipation of the foe and Haku began to fade in and out a bit.

Standing order for Rin to harden and Haku to remain out of sight with a Double Team up until she can get a good dash in to trap/assault a target without being noticed on the approach.
Stealth
Rin: 10
Haku: 14

[Revenant9]

I know a little bit about darkness, Victoria thought to herself. Well if it's a ghost they fear, all I have to do is move fast enough to appear as a blur. Ha, 'all I have to do', I think it'll take me quite a while to get up to that kind of speed, but I can try.

Victoria loosened up a little before tensing up again, bobbing a little in place to get her muscles ready for work.

Hmm, it might be better to keep Ilya hidden for now. We don't want her light to ruin the element of surprise. Should I run down the path and try to help Haku? She probably knows what she's doing, but I can't help worrying. Well if in doubt, the best thing is to fall back on my training. Where is the best place I can ambush them from, while retaining a line of sight towards them for attack...

Victoria looked around.

Ah, I can't quite help the others from that dug out space but Sabah can help Hanayo there to corner any enemies. They'll see one Nincada and get attacked by two. However there doesn't seem to be a good defensible narrow spot for myself besides where I'm standing now. I suppose from here I can help Hanayo and Sabah eliminate the bandits that get too close. It's probably best for someone to stay close to Chi and Kira in any case and Ilya can keep Chi warm and comfortable while this goes on.

"Ilya, stay here with Chi, Sabah get ready for a fight," Victoria whispered to her Pokemon. Ilya gurgled quietly and stayed put, while Sabah moved forward to join Hanayo in hardening her shell.

Victoria uses Agility, +2 Speed CS
Sabah uses Harden, +1 Defense CS
Victoria tries to hide as best as possible; Stealth: 17 as per roll20.

[The Walrus]

As K talks about making a copy of the plate, Gwen butts in. "Hey, you know that thing I said about keeping the plate secret? I meant it. What if someone mugged you when you inevitably mention some secret? I wouldn't trust myself to hold onto it, much less a blather mouth like you. No, we keep the copy here, and let the blind girl in town feel it over when she gets back."

"I thought the whole reason we were going to Oldale was to find out more about this whole evil priestess business with the sacrifice and the plate and all, so I think it makes sense if we see if anyone there has something to say about what all these dots and stuff on it mean. Though, here... if you're worried about security, I can camouflage this a bit..."

K drew a bunch of random doodles on the page she had copied the image of the plate on, including abstract shapes with patterns similar to the plate.

"And if you don't trust me to carry this, and you don't trust yourself, then I'm sure Rachel wouldn't mind carrying it."

The martial artist held out the paper for Rachel to take.

[Elfbird]

Team Westward
Kira, Haku, Victoria

The bandits' apparent leader flashes a predatory grin as she hears Maya's scratching and starts down the tunnel, oblivious to the trap or the Haku lying in ambush...
"Tch. Just a stupid bug," she mutters aloud. *crack*

There's a ruckus of crunching stone a little bit south of the party's hiding place, and Freie starts growling softly at whatever it is she sees.
There's another small burst of pebbles from the alcove by Chi, and a Geodude shoves its way into the chamber! Chi lets out a gasp of surprise and curls closer to Kira and Ilya, but to her credit doesn't cry out.
It looks more confused than anything, as much as a rock can show expression. It's impossible to tell what it will do next.

Rolls in Roll20
Bandit 1: Perception 15 vs. Rin's Stealth 10 - Spotted!
---Feint Attack via Slingshot -> Rin: 17 damage! Rin takes an Injury from dropping to 50% HP!

Bandits 2-6: shifting through the tunnels

Haku is a little bit stuck - moving south to escape Bandit 1's line of sight puts her in Bandit 2's. Since Bandit 1 has her back to Haku, I reasoned that it was safer to be in her LoS for the moment. You can decide what to do with your turn given the change of circumstances.
Mind that even though Rin was hit, combat isn't your only recourse; you could have Rin play dead or scuttle away if you have something devious in mind, unless you want to start the fireworks and pincer Bandit 1 between Rin and Haku instead of Maya and Rin.

Geodude 1, Aron 1, and Nosepass 1 appear at their respective points on the map!

All three of you have the Pokemon Ed to reason that those Rock Pokemon have been hibernating in here since the building collapsed 15+ years ago, slowly eating through the rocks during their waking cycles. The sounds of your and the bandits' presence must have roused them enough to make the final push through.

Begin Round 2!

[Merilan]

Kira

Kira whipped around and looked alarmed as the Geodude emerged from the rock surface. "Chi, watch out!" she called to the smaller girl, and instinctively drew to strike and interpose herself between them.


Kira attacks the Geodude with a psychic Struggle attack.

[roll0] vs. AC 5 base, [roll1] psychic damage vs. Special Defense


Freie rushes past the Nosepass, trusting Hanayo to protect their master, to pounce on the bandit that's fallen for Haku's trap!


Freie uses Bite!

[roll2] vs. AC 2 base, [roll3] Dark damage vs. Defense


Hanayo moves forward and strikes the Nosepass, sinking her teeth to drain some of its vitality.


Hanayo uses Life Leech!

[roll4] vs. AC 2 base, [roll5] Bug damage vs. Defense

[Esprit15]

"I thought the whole reason we were going to Oldale was to find out more about this whole evil priestess business with the sacrifice and the plate and all, so I think it makes sense if we see if anyone there has something to say about what all these dots and stuff on it mean. Though, here... if you're worried about security, I can camouflage this a bit..."

K drew a bunch of random doodles on the page she had copied the image of the plate on, including abstract shapes with patterns similar to the plate.

"And if you don't trust me to carry this, and you don't trust yourself, then I'm sure Rachel wouldn't mind carrying it."

The martial artist held out the paper for Rachel to take.

"The people who killed some of our friends in some bizarre sacrificial ritual, you want to ask them to translate that for you?" Gwen asks, skepticism thick in her voice. "We have people who can translate it, they're just not in town right now. Give it a few days before we ask people. Besides, if there are people in Oldale who turn out to be allies, we can bring them back here."

[The Walrus]

"The people who killed some of our friends in some bizarre sacrificial ritual, you want to ask them to translate that for you?" Gwen asks, skepticism thick in her voice. "We have people who can translate it, they're just not in town right now. Give it a few days before we ask people. Besides, if there are people in Oldale who turn out to be allies, we can bring them back here."

"The priestesses we found in Mauville weren't anyone I recognized from Oldale, and I'd recognize anyone from Oldale! Obviously they're some sort of evil schism cult who broke off from the true Oldale religon, but I never heard about them because I ignored like ninety percent of all the lessons I was taught in Oldale which weren't about punching or building things. They probably live in Slateport or something. However, even if our enemies were in Oldale, bringing a copy of the plate couldn't hurt, since our enemies already have that information. If we do find someone who could translate the plate, though, which we probably will because the Oldale priestesses know all about this sort of occult stuff, they might not be willing to march all the way back to Verdanturf with us. And also, what if this dark ritual thing turns out to be one of those fate-of-the-world-is-at-stake type of deals where every minute counts? We can't afford to wait for however long it takes Kira or that 'how to read while blind' book to get back to Verdanturf!"

[Mokou-tan]

Maya and Rin advanced on the bandit that shot at Rin. Maya showered the bandit in debris, blinding her, while Rin bit down on her leg, draining her essences. While things weren't quite going to plan, Haku rushed out between the bandit and her ally and flipped her blade with a smile, first jamming it into the bandit who struck her Nincada, then into the other. "Now, I'm feeling generous tonight. If you both drop your things and take your friends out of my place, she gets to live. Otherwise, I'll kill you all. You'll die in a dark cave and nobody will know." Haku sounded off, far more sinister and emotive than her normal self as she spun her bloody blade about. Maybe it was from being exposed to all this again?

All attacks were hits in roll20
Maya: Sand Attack
Rin: Leech Life, 28 damage
Haku: Double Swipe, 26 on Bandit 1 and 28 on Bandit 2.

[Nyna]

Emi Konda - Team KondaKart

Upon seeing the sick Pokemon, Emi would, naturally, go into medic mode, moving to treat the creatures one by one in a calm and professional manner. Never mind the weird slimy feeling as a Wurmple climbed in her hair, Meian could take care of that. She'd eventually manage to charm a number of the creatures as part of her excellent bedside manner, and soon enough was the proud owner of two more Shroomishes, and a Zigzagoon that had leapt onto her head somehow...

[Mura-neechan]

Meian Tensaiji - Team KondaKart

Having shown her dominance over the small Pokemon, Meian would grin, looking at the little hoard she'd acquired. Testing them, and carefully helping them get their act together, Meian would line her Pokemon up in a line, teaching them how to maximumize thier movement, with Fila being the lead in that aspect. Darting about here and there, the Ponyta would circle the clearing muin laps, as Meian ushered the others to keep up, circling them over and over. After a good hour's exercise, Meian would return them to their pokeballs, organize them on her belt, and grin as she set in to snuggle with Emi.

[ptdapen]

Yukike Kamira

Kamira sighed and did not speak much for the rest of the night. She had an intense training session with Belka right before bedtime. This consisted of her teleporting about and trying to distract her. Afterward, she set up her sleeping bag and called the Espurr over for some overnight cuddles.

[gmoyes]

Rachel Matthews- Verdanturf

Rachel listened attentively as her mom told her about the contests of old. Her mom had told her about them plenty of times before, but it didn't matter to her. The retired coordinator's tales of her glory days were Rachel's bedtime stories. She dreamed that she could match her mother's accomplishments, even if she had to re-build all the contest halls herself to do so. At the mention of Wallace, Rachel gave a nod. "Interesting. Well, if those ribbons do have some significance, I certainly know where to get some." She looked over at a framed display showing several of her mom's old ribbons. However, given that they were made well before the war, they might not work. And she figured that if there were any other old contest ribbons hidden around the contest hall, they would have found them already. Still, something to keep in mind.

When the two of them moved to talk about the courier system her mom had a surprise for her. When she offered Talon's worn and scarred Pokeball, Rachel's jaw dropped. "You're giving me Talon?! Really? Woah." She blinked still somewhat stunned and then wrapped her mom in a hug. "Thank you Mom. Just. Thank you." The girl was barely holding back tears. Talon was a very close partner to her mom, the two of them had flown all over region together and won several contests. Rachel had grown up under the bird's watchful eye and comforted her mom when her husband died from the virus. For the old Skamory to be given to her... There was no greater gift her mom could have given her. Sure, when her Claydol, Omni, created Apex, it was kinda expected that the Baltoy would be passed on to her. But to give her Talon was nothing she expected in a million years.

With a couple of calming breaths she gave a smile. "I promise to keep good care of her Mom. I just hope you can take care of yourself on your own. Once I get my own team settled and raised I'll make sure she'll come back to you." Releasing her mom from the hug and taking the Pokeball, she went to bid farewell. "I'm off with Gwen and K to investigate Oldale about our missing huntresses. Until we get back, I'll try to send some letters home. I love you Mom."

***

K & Gwen

Rachel soon reconnected with the other two girls to find them arguing about whether or not they should take a copy of the plate with them. K even tried to give the sketch to her. "I think I've had enough responsibility thrust upon me today," she responded dryly thinking of Talon and and the Dynamo badge. She gave a sigh and shook her head. "If you guys keep arguing about it soon enough the whole town will know. It's hard to keep secrets in a small town." She thought for a moment. "I think I'm with K on this one. I don't really think it will hurt to bring it along. We don't even know if these Priestesses are even from Oldale. Like you said K, you didn't recognize any of them. For all we know the Priestesses might even be framed for this. Do you think our girls had the capability to kill the three we found in the water? We may be looking at a third group that attacked both us and the Priestesses." Rachel gave a shrug. "Or I'm just throwing out ideas. If carrying the copy is dangerous, it's just a piece of paper, it shouldn't be too hard to get rid of."

[Esprit15]

Sighing, Gwen relents after being outvoted. "Alright, but let's get out of town sooner, rather than later. Until the ordeal with Jodi is resolved, I would rather stay moving than not."

[Nyna]

Emi Konda - Team KondaKart

After the group finally managed to escape the Forest Mother, Emi would sigh softly, relaxing in the back of the cart for a bit before beginning to treat her injuries and that of the people and pokemon around her. After all, you never knew when you might run into more trouble, and that battle had really taken a number out of some of them, herself included...

Healing time!

Emi will use First Aid Expertise on herself, Ratatoskr, and Kamira. The targets all heal as if she used a Full Restore on them and may remove 1 injury.

She'll use her First Aid Kit on Meian, Luna, Belka, and Harmonia, draining 1 AP per target. They heal the amount listed below and may cure Paralysis if they have it.
Meian: [roll0]
Luna: [roll1]
Belka: [roll2]
Harmonia: [roll3]

Finally, we're now on the lookout for medical scrap as well since Emi just picked up Apothecary at level 7~

[Matanui3]

Yikes, that shock looked like it really hurt! I didn't want to use these so soon, but I better go help her.

Hazel rushes onto the bridge behind Mina, pulling out a Super Potion.

"Here, take this, it'll help."

Mina regains 35 HP!

[Revenant9]

Seeing the girl that her master had ordered her to protect possibly in danger, Ilya wasted no time in attempting to eliminate the threat. She spat a small ball of flame at the Geodude.

Sabah saw Hanayo attack and proceeded to follow her lead.

Victoria on the other hand didn't attack anything immediately. She was rather fascinated by the Aron. "That Aron is going to be mine," she couldn't help but say. Still she did have her priorities and so she decided to go for the Nosepass first. Doing that would help protect the group and put her closer to wherever Haku was. With that in mind she drew her sword, moved over to the Nosepass and after quick feinted stab at its head, slashed at its body.

Ember on Geodude
AC2 vs [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Leech Life on Nosepass
AC2 vs [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]

Feint Attack on Nosepass
Crit Roll: [roll4]
Damage: [roll5]

[The Walrus]

Rachel Matthews- Verdanturf
Rachel soon reconnected with the other two girls to find them arguing about whether or not they should take a copy of the plate with them. K even tried to give the sketch to her. "I think I've had enough responsibility thrust upon me today," she responded dryly thinking of Talon and and the Dynamo badge. She gave a sigh and shook her head. "If you guys keep arguing about it soon enough the whole town will know. It's hard to keep secrets in a small town." She thought for a moment. "I think I'm with K on this one. I don't really think it will hurt to bring it along. We don't even know if these Priestesses are even from Oldale. Like you said K, you didn't recognize any of them. For all we know the Priestesses might even be framed for this. Do you think our girls had the capability to kill the three we found in the water? We may be looking at a third group that attacked both us and the Priestesses." Rachel gave a shrug. "Or I'm just throwing out ideas. If carrying the copy is dangerous, it's just a piece of paper, it shouldn't be too hard to get rid of."

"I guess I'll just hold onto this, then," K said, and stuffed the paper into one of the myriad pockets on her vest. "Hmm... before Artemis had said anything about being attacked by priestesses, I was kinda assuming that a third party had killed both the huntresses and the priestesses. So, under this new theory, these hypothetical other people killed the priestesses, and then ambushed the huntresses while wearing their robes. It would explain why three of the dead priestesses were left just floating in the lake - it seems like a pretty mean way to treat your comrades, even if they're dead and it's a holy lake. And it would also explain why they just left the other body lying inside the gym. On the other hand, the priestesses could have just been too afraid of being electrocuted to move the body in the gym, and they might not have had the time to deal with their dead friends in a more dignified way. Huh. This is a tough one..."


Sighing, Gwen relents after being outvoted. "Alright, but let's get out of town sooner, rather than later. Until the ordeal with Jodi is resolved, I would rather stay moving than not."

"Well, there's something we can agree on! I'm ready to leave whenever you two are."

[Elfbird]

Team Verdanturf
Gwen, Rachel, K

You conclude your business and depart Verdanturf, hoping to make good time toward Mauville and arrive sometime during the night.
The first leg of your trip goes smoothly enough.
Storm clouds begin rolling in after the sun sets, obscuring the moon and stars - Route 117 suddenly seems very dark this distant from the dim glow of Verdanturf.
After a couple more hours of traveling, you begin to hear sounds in the darkness - rustling and skittering, slowly approaching your group...



Team Westward
Kira, Haku, Victoria

Kira's and Ilya's combined attacks immediately rendered the Geodude slain, mere inches from the tomb it had escaped after 15 years.
A second Geodude was working her way out of the same hole at the time. Something about her expression - her big, staring, vacant eyes - was enough to push Chi's mounting fright over the edge into anger.
"Go... a... WAY!"
The young girl stands up, shoulders past Kira, and throws a punch that almost breaks the Geodude's face! Of course, Kira also hears some unpleasant snapping sounds in Chi's arm and the girl stumbles back beside her...
"O-owiee!"
The Geodude recovers her wits enough to curl into a protective ball against further attacks.

To the south, Victoria and the Nincada fare... significantly less well against the Nosepass. So far you've only managed to turn its confusion into fear and annoyance, which it expresses by smashing Hanayo with a piece of rubble!

The ambushed bandit staggers under the sudden ferocious assault laid upon her, too busy choking and spitting blood and dirt out of her mouth to immediately respond to Haku's threat. The other bandit hesitates, uncertain whether to strike or flee. The rest begin running toward the sounds of fighting, two more arriving breathless onto the scene.



Team KondaKart
Emi, Meian, Kamira

After two days of travel and surviving your ordeal in Petalburg Woods, you finally emerge onto the Route 104 coast. The warm sea breeze rushes along the hills, and for the first time you can see the sun setting into the ocean instead of behind mountains, trees, or ruins. Wild Taillow and Wingull call out in the distant sky, but not many Pokemon make their homes here due to the lack of cover, with the darkness of the jungle so close as an alternative. The whole area has a feeling of serenity unlike anywhere else you've yet experienced in Hoenn.

Petalburg Woods lie behind you to the north.

The Toxic Jungle continues to the east, enshrouding whatever might be left of Petalburg City according to your prewar maps.

The hills descend to a wide sandy beach to the south, from whence you can launch onto the Sea Route 105 toward Dewford Town. The route passes over a valley in a submerged mountain range, making the relatively narrow channel the only viable route to access Hoenn's southwestern islands.

To the west is what remains of a salt-rotted house and pier. Outside house is a faded gravestone, with the sun-bleached skeleton of a Wingull resting peacefully in front of it.

You have maybe an hour of daylight, thanks to the open horizon. Your flight from Petalburg Woods may have been a bit too exciting for comfort, but it did help you make incredible time.
In what area do you want to set up camp?
You'll also want to discuss how to get to Dewford if that's your goal. The KondaKart can float, but you'll need some way to move it, and it will take at least 12 hours of active sea travel to reach Dewford Island.
As Emi recalls from when she and her mother last left Dewford, the tides and currents here pose no significant threat to small vessels, but neither will they help you get anywhere. How did you make the journey last time?

[Esprit15]

"Everyone, defensive positions. Hellebore, stay by me. We are not alone out here," Gwen says, lowering her stance, looking around in the darkness. "We know you're out there! There's no use hiding!"