Adventures in Helnith: Assault on the Town of Ash (OoC)

[gorman]

Ok DM, I'm by the newbies, what do you want me to do now?

[WindStruck]

Ok DM, I'm by the newbies, what do you want me to do now?

Maybe you could start by saying hello? Perhaps start with a line of dialogue like this?

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Maybe you could start by saying hello?

Pretty much this; between the thunderstorm (and remember your ride here is off on a sidequest for the foreseeable future, so if you want to go anywhere you’re going to have to walk through that) and plentiful excellent free food immediately available, I think I’ve been as unsubtle about this as I can be short of having one of the NPCs scribble “Socialize with the new players, curse you!” across Matt’s forehead with a sharpie.

[Gnomes2169]

Hmmm... HMMMMMM... this war being 5 years old, methinks we might be able to ret-con a bit of Mark's backstory so that his original group was here two years ago instead of just 9 months or whatever it as before. Yes. Yes. Gives him more opportunity to adjust to being a cyborg boi with his robohand. Yesssssssss...

Because we're still going with the backstory I came up with when I was an angsty 17 year old, not with a full rewrite. Oh god that was almost 12 years ago. AAAAAAAAAA.

... Checking my homebrew signature, I'm still an angsty boi tho-

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Hmmm... HMMMMMM... this war being 5 years old, methinks we might be able to ret-con a bit of Mark's backstory so that his original group was here two years ago instead of just 9 months or whatever it as before. Yes. Yes. Gives him more opportunity to adjust to being a cyborg boi with his robohand. Yesssssssss...

Seven years for the war. Five years ago is when Salerdia went missing and everything started to die off.

[Gnomes2169]

Well, either way, Mark still had the opportunity to have the arm for a larger window than I at first assumed. So hey. Kid could have it slightly less rough.

... I abused this boy so much. But it was for CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

[WindStruck]

Pretty much this; between the thunderstorm (and remember your ride here is off on a sidequest for the foreseeable future, so if you want to go anywhere you’re going to have to walk through that) and plentiful excellent free food immediately available, I think I’ve been as unsubtle about this as I can be short of having one of the NPCs scribble “Socialize with the new players, curse you!” across Matt’s forehead with a sharpie.

But.. but I think he'll need a mirror or two to read the writing on his forehead!

It sounds like you guys are thinking of traveling to an island soon? And you might have difficulty navigating the water? I'm not sure if my character can help mechanically, but.. you'd THINK she could help in some way? That could be as good a plot point as one can hope for.

If not, that's okay. Flotsam probably will not be moving far, unless prodded. So it's totally your fault if you miss this opportunity and leave her playing carefree in a puddle outside.

[Feathersnow]

And... hey! I have a Ditto. If you have a pokemon with Surf, I make two! And I've already volunteered to help!

[Kareeah_Indaga]

It sounds like you guys are thinking of traveling to an island soon? And you might have difficulty navigating the water? I'm not sure if my character can help mechanically, but.. you'd THINK she could help in some way? That could be as good a plot point as one can hope for.

Spoiler: Tidepath

Show

Tidepath is aptly named; during low tide, it's possible to walk there, although the distances involved usually means leaving about an hour and a half before the lowest point to get to the other side before it starts coming back in again. East side has water at all times of the day, and that's where the cruise ships and other large vessels dock, but between high and low tide all the water on the west side is rushing in or out, so you don't have ferries to cross the water except around high tide.

There used to be roads you could traverse at any time, but they're in serious disrepair, and of course with the war no one has the time or money to fix them.

If you have a pokemon with Surf, I make two! And I've already volunteered to help!

We don't have a Pokemon with Surf, that's why I had the Ranger bring it up. Mind you, I'm not requiring your Pokemon to have Surf to traverse the water in general, but it'll be like sailing across on a raft with a couple shirts for a sail vs. using a motorboat - it'll get you there, but not quickly or efficiently and heaven help you if you need to run from Bandra forces on the open water.

I will be limiting the number of people Lapras can carry to four, though, so effectively having two of them will be useful regardless.

I will also point out that most of you have three days (Mark has two) before we're launching this attack, so it's not out of the question to go find the Surf HM.

[Lord Ruby34]

I don't think Less will be able to help much with any water travel for now. Princess is a little too small to be able to ride. On the other hand, Buck can make a land journey go fairly quickly, though he can probably only handle one rider at a time.

[gorman]

I'm sorry...

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I'm sorry...

No problem, just making sure you’re up to speed.

EDIT:

"Oh, of course, I'll call Mark now and see if he's in the area." I say as I pull out the phone app on the pokedex, find Mark's number and dial it. "Hey Mark, if you're in the Rieva vicinity would you be able to swing by the pokemon center? There's some inquiring minds here that are asking questions I lack answers for. I thought you would be a better alternative than I."

Gnomes, this is about the same time you were talking to Lijan - right in between evolving Marick and leveling up Sengar. I’ll let you squeeze it in, just keep it short and mind the timeline.

[WindStruck]

It's kind of hard to tell what's going on. Like, who's where, who's doing what, who is talking to who...

I guess Matt was mostly speaking on the phone, but the last sentence was directed at Flotsam and/or Less?

[Kareeah_Indaga]

It's kind of hard to tell what's going on. Like, who's where, who's doing what, who is talking to who...

Flotsam, Akio, Less and Matt are in the Pokémon Center in Rieva together. Matt just called Mark (as I mentioned in the Recruitment thread the Pokédexes have texting and phone functionality) to ask him to come visit, but Mark is ahead of you (and everyone else) timeline-wise so he’s telling Matt he will come by later, after you have caught up.

I guess Matt was mostly speaking on the phone, but the last sentence was directed at Flotsam and/or Less?

Yes, or at least that was my read of his last post.

[Gnomes2169]

... I just remembered that I can give Mark a color for his dialogue to make it stand out on this site. Oh my god. THE CONVENIENCE!

Well let's see here... Mark is from Johto... So let's test out a few different variation of a pokemon crystal color.

Edit: Best one for readability is this one, even if the second to last is closer to the pokemon crystal cartridge color. So this is Mark's voice now.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Would it be helpful if I gave Mina a color? (I’m not picking out colors for the regular NPCs regardless, there are too many of them.)

[Gnomes2169]

She's always angry, but not blazingly. Just kinda a simmering thing. Also she's from Kanto, iirc so... Maybe some Fire Brick? For the region and the temper.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

She's always angry, but not blazingly. Just kinda a simmering thing. Also she's from Kanto, iirc so... Maybe some Fire Brick? For the region and the temper.

She's from Johto, actually.

I usually go with indigo, both because it's got good contrast and seems to be an unpopular color.

[Feathersnow]

Okay. So I'm still here, just unsure how to interject before we catch up with Mark.

[Gnomes2169]

She's from Johto, actually.

I usually go with indigo, both because it's got good contrast and seems to be an unpopular color.

Oh right. She and Mark came from the same country. Just different towns. Hekk.

Indigo is good. People should appreciate purple more.

Okay. So I'm still here, just unsure how to interject before we catch up with Mark.

Generally, training your pokemon a few levels or going hunting for wild pokemon are relatively good ways to "fill some time." Kareeah usually doesn't kill people with random pokemon encounters. Usually.

[Lord Ruby34]

Indigo is good. People should appreciate purple more.

+1

I'm planning on waiting for the phone call to go ahead before posting anything more. If we have some time to kill after that and before Mark joins us Less will probably spend some time training his Pokemon that like the rain.

[essCee]

So, if I've got all the colours chosen so far right, they're...

Floatsam... Less... Matt... Mark... Mina... (if you go with indigo)

I feel like a pink would be nicely distinct and fitting for Pinklady!

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Also for the people in the Pokémon Center who are not Matt: this conversation is going to be loud enough that you can hear it if you're choosing to listen in, so you can chime in yourselves without having to wait for Matt and ask questions.

[gorman]

Yeah trying to... uhm... force conversation and trying to remember things is not my strong suit and it's making me want to just.... not... play this anymore...

[WindStruck]

Yeah trying to... uhm... force conversation and trying to remember things is not my strong suit and it's making me want to just.... not... play this anymore...

Sorry you feel that way.

From my perspective, it's pretty tough to just jump into the middle of a game that's already been running. I'm trying to do whatever plothooks are thrown my way, but seems we're just at a bottleneck, and it feels like the flow of everything is bogged down.

I don't want to make you feel "forced" to do anything, so I'll see myself out. From the pokemon center.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Hold on, I've got something I was going to save until after the conversation but I can do it now since that's stuck.

EDIT:

There we go. And now you can have some hands on experience instead of a lecture.

(Also note to self: find an evil emoji replacement.)

[WindStruck]

I was thinking, let's not do anything drastic. If Mark has been talking about a need a pokemon with Surf, then when they get here, maybe that will be a good incentive for a conversation?

Oh. Well. Too late now I guess.

[Lord Ruby34]

Danger and excitement always bring a party together. It's practically tradition.

[Gnomes2169]

It appears that excitement is happening while Mark is busy until sunset. Alas. I have been betrayed by my own HUBRIS! And my desire for sweet, sweet gardevoir levels. But mostly it's my hubris.

I'll just sit off to the side while you kids have fun.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Danger and excitement always bring a party together. It's practically tradition.

That’s the idea, yes.

It appears that excitement is happening while Mark is busy until sunset. Alas. I have been betrayed by my own HUBRIS! And my desire for sweet, sweet gardevoir levels. But mostly it's my hubris.

I'll just sit off to the side while you kids have fun.

You know you can get levels up by poking your nose into trouble too, right?

When we get to the actual fighting part, I’ll let you and essCee run the opposing side if you want, so you aren’t sitting around doing nothing.