Galar's New Heroes! [IC]

[JNAProductions]

The gastly is entangled.

[TeChameleon]

Ben shook his head.

"It's too aggressive right now, we're going to have to take it down and catch it." he said, half to himself.

"Belle, Ember! Knock it down as best you can!"

He glanced behind, since he had moved between the gastly and the rest of the group to back Bellerog up from nearby. "If anybody wants to catch it, just sing out."

Spoiler

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(3d6)[5][6][5](16) for accuracy, (5d6)[4][2][2][6][2](16) for damage (if it hits) and (1d6)[6] chance dice to burn

[JNAProductions]

The ember hits home, igniting the gases of the gastly, which continues its wailing.

[MCerberus]

Nick

Having seen a few years of nightmares flash through his head in half a second, Nick's not doing so well as to direct Eevee well in battle, instead stumbling backwards in silence. Sensing something is wrong though, Eevee comes to his defense and starts growling at the Ghastly while staying close to its trainer

Spoiler

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Growl -1 str
(3d6)[2][1][5](8)

[Kinro]

"Gabby, keep it up!" Kei called out. He hated seeing the gastly suffering like this and also threw one of his pokeballs, hoping that a quick catch would help it, keeping it sedated until they got to a pokecenter.

Gabby String shot (-1 dex to ghastly if hit)
(3d6)[4][5][3](12)

Pokeball (1 free success for burn, 1 free if half hp, 1, potentially, if at 1 hp)
(4d6)[5][5][2][2](14)

[JNAProductions]

The Gastly is absorbed into the Pokeball, and it falls to the ground.

It twitches once... Twice... Three times... And clicks. The gastly is caught.

Martha is still apparently missing.

[Kinro]

Kei breathed a sign of relief when the gastly was finally captured. "I'm going to take good care of you," he said to the pokeball once he'd picked it up. "You'll see. You're safe with me now, right...?" he looked back to see his companions. Or, at least, most of them. "Uhm... where's Martha? Has anyone seen her?"

[TeChameleon]

As the pokeball clicked home, Ben breathed a sigh of relief as well. Or at least, he started to.

"We'd better get out of here and get to a Pokecentre as fast as we can, so we can send this poor gastly to the lab... hopefully they can help... it... out..?"

"Uhm... where's Martha? Has anyone seen her?"

"Really?" he sighed, flicking his light around just in case. "We'd better hurry and find her- if she's gone, then something grabbed her, most likely. Friggin' ghost pokemon..."

Under his breath, he muttered "C'mon gang, let's split up! Zoinks, Scoob!" with an eye roll that was probably unseen in the dark.

[MCerberus]

Nick

Nick's still kind of out of it. He can only sort of shake his head when the subject of Martha is brought up. He can't really even think about what might have happened because right now his thoughts are screams. Eevee's still holding a defensive position, like a good foxpuppy.

"Yah let's... let's get out of here."

[Kinro]

"Grabbed her where, though?" Kei asked. "There were no side passages, not that I could see, and she wouldn't have been able to get past us without us noticing. Maybe she just ran back?" he suggested, hoping it was true. "We shouldn't split up, of course, but we can't just go back without her, right?"

[JNAProductions]

You start moving back, a touch tentatively to avoid abandoning Martha. You find her, partway back, staring slackjawed at the wall. She's mumbling something incoherent, and there's a bit of drool leaking from her mouth's corners.

[Kinro]

Kei was relieved, in one part, but newly worried in another. "Martha?" he asked, running up to her and shaking her shoulder lightly. "Martha, are you alright? Why did you come all the way back here? We should stick together!"

[TeChameleon]

Ben grabbed at Kei's arm, trying to keep him from touching Martha.

"Be careful!" he said sharply. "If she got infected by whatever had that gastly being crazy... and Rem the rookidee... then the professor warned us not to touch it, remember?"

Ben shone his light over Martha, trying to see if any of the red goop was on her, then shone it away for a moment, trying to see if any of the red glow was happening on her somewhere. If he could see the goop, he would try to take a hold of her to guide her while keeping his hands well away from it.

Spoiler

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Alert + Clever to spot the goop or anything else wrong that might be visible with a fairly bright LED torch, or glowing in the dark- (4d6)[3][4][3][3](13)

[JNAProductions]

Close examination reveals a sticky red residue on Martha's right hand. Looking down, you see a small dollop of the goop on the ground beneath her, and looking up, some dripping from the roof of the tunnel. It's viscous, so it drips slowly, but it's there. Martha herself isn't glowing, thank Arceus, but she's definitely not well.

[MCerberus]

Nick

Nick thoughts are starting to get themselves sorted. But in the process it comes across his mind what it would mean for such contact to be common.

"Not... much talking to do, we need to get her to the hospital."

[Kinro]

"Well, if we can't actually touch her... Gabby, use String Shot!" Kei said, followed by Gabby spitting out a rope all around Martha's torso, with one end in Kei's hand. "Alright, Martha," he said gently, tugging her along, "let's go now. We have to go get you some help, alright?"

[JNAProductions]

She mumbles something incoherently. When she's dragged along, she walks, a bit unsteadily. It seems that whatever's afflicting her, it's not stopping rote movements, at the very least.

You reach the entrance to the tunnel. It's not hard to clamber back up to the surface, but when you try to tug Martha up, she simply walks against the wall.

[MCerberus]

Nick

Seeing what the plan was, Nick lets out AC to help out. He doesn't want to admit it but getting back to fresh air was an immense relief. He's still a bit scrambled but can at least attempt to think straight. With Martha still out of it, he takes a moment to consider.

"Can the string holder her if we try to pull her up?"

[JNAProductions]

Judging by the current string you've been using, it'd be a solid no.

Your bug mons might be able to whip up something sturdier, but it'd be tough.

Spoiler: OOC

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I'd be looking for a minimum of two successes from the bugs to make a rope that could lift Martha out.

[MCerberus]

Nick

Nick gives a tug on the grubbin string to see if it will hold. The results didn't appear to be good. They've got to think fast, and in the back of his head Nick is blaming his lapse for what happened to Martha. "Unless anyone has any better ideas I'll be the one to take the risk."

[Kinro]

"Maybe we should just go ahead and lift her?" Kei suggested. "Whatever got on her, it's probably gone by now, right?"

[TeChameleon]

Ben held up a cautionary hand.

"No, it's still on her. Look carefully at her hands." he said, shining his light in that direction. "Maybe if all three grubbins used String Shot at the same time, we could get a good solid hold on her and the three of us working together could haul her out more easily than all of us trying to grab her arms at the same time or whatever?"

Then, suiting actions to words, he commanded "Taranis, give me a String Shot on Martha. Try for around her waist!"

[JNAProductions]

It's tricky, but with the grubbins working together, you're able to get a solid enough string to pull her up. She's unbalanced on the way up, and nearly falls onto one of you when her feet hit the ground above, eliciting a moment of "Do I catch her? Do I not touch her?" confusion. But luckily, she's able to keep her balance.

Spoiler: OOC

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(1d6)[5]

[MCerberus]

Nick

Once they get up towards the surface, Nick takes a look around to see if there's any other travelers or people that could run for help. Since he doesn't have a rotom phone or pokegear they may have to alert the authorities for help the old-fashioned way.

"Do we make for the gate to town, try and get help there?"

[Kinro]

"Finally, out of there," Kei said with clear relief. Infected ghosts and strange liquids... this hadn't been a good place for them at all. But at least they were out now and they could get Martha and his new ghastly some help. "Come on, Martha, it's time to go," she said, lightly tugging on the rope to help her along as he headed back to town.

[JNAProductions]

The trek back takes much longer than the trek there.

Spoiler: OOC

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(3d6)[3][2][4](9)

By the time you get to Motostoke, it's perhaps three in the morning. Martha shows no signs of improving.

[TeChameleon]

Ben was getting increasingly agitated on the way back to Motostoke. Finally he burst out "I'm going to call the lab and hope someone picks up. We need to know what to tell the people at the hospital, and if we have to keep this red gunk secret or something."

And with that, he suited words to actions, using his cel to phone the lab now that they had a clearer signal closer to the city.

[JNAProductions]

The phone rings, again and again. The first call is not answered. But a second call gets a tired-sounding "Huh?" from Sonia.

You quickly explain the situation, trying to keep a level head as best you can. Sonia asks for clarification at a few points, and by the time the situation is laid out, she's wide awake. "Okay... Okay, you've got access to String Shot? Wrap her up-make sure that, if she suddenly starts going rabid, she won't be able to hurt anyone, herself included. It makes Pokémon go wild, go offensive, go... Dangerous. I don't know for sure what it'll do to a person, but if it reacts similarly... Well, she'd already be doing something by now. The 'grace period' of being passive usually doesn't last long."

[TeChameleon]

Ben quickly and tersely relayed the information to the others, and instructed Taranis to wrap Martha up solidly and carefully. Then he got back on the phone. "What do we tell the ER?" he asked.

[MCerberus]

Nick

With it being so late and the previous unpleasantness, Nick's not able to really think through an act on a nibbling on his conscious. The stop for the call, delays for advice. They should be getting Martha straight to treatment without delay. But, nearly mentally collapsed himself he goes along with the group. Not party to the call he can only scan for signs for the hospital and say wearily, "We've got to... keep moving."