Pokésona - Blue Version (In-Character)

The first time one of Claire's students told her about the dark hour, it was easy to dismiss it all as a side effect. A weird dream, resulting from overexposure to chemical stimulants and grief for a sick friend. She told Fletcher to stop testing the new drug patches and to stay in bed through the night until the symptoms abated.

But the symptoms never abated. Fletcher's magnemite pal continued to appear by his side every night, and outside he could see pokémon attacking the frozen city. He found another student in the dorms, Finn, fighting off a zubat that flew in the window with help from a fire-breathing fennekin. The two of them met a cop on the street who could corroborate the story as well. Roland's own counselor had prescribed sick leave for him, to no avail, obviously.

For her part, Professor Claire did some research using her own sources. She noticed that the team's experiences weren't the only ones, and that the Dark Hour was connected to the recent surge in White-out syndrome. This knowledge meant that they might now be able to find a cure, or better yet, to stop the monsters at their source.

Seeing as most modern technology refuses to function when the world is frozen, Claire had to develop some... specialized instruments to advance her research:

Dark Tape Recorder - A held item, meant for Fletcher's magnemite, Charles. When equipped to an electric-type pokémon, it records ambient sounds and speech during the dark hour. Can be played back normally during the day. Finn can probably find a way to upgrade it.
Dark Biomonitor - Must be implanted into a human volunteer. (That volunteer is Finn.) Records physiological responses during the Dark Hour.
Pokéball - Looks like a toy or talisman. Said to catch pokémon in stories. (Purchased with starting funds. Fletcher isn't sure where Claire got the ones she gave to him. Monty and Finn got theirs as good luck charms from Lizz and Xena, respectively.)
Paper Notebooks and Pencils - Everyone has these. They still work fine!

From there, it was trivial to figure out that the monsters were descending from Mount Moon. Using her contacts and resources, Professor Claire reached out to the local forestry researchers and obtained permission to set up a base camp.

Which brings us to Monty.

Monty, you have spent your day setting up a camp at the base of Mount Moon for a party of people you have not yet met. On paper, the equipment you were given is meant for medicinal research, collecting and testing herbs and berries unique to the area. Off paper, your forestry program has recently had their palms greased by a mysterious patron, inducing them to send you up here despite the numerous safety warnings and barriers recently put up by the local authorities.

One person you know, who is always up for flaunting authority, is Charlie. Her band happens to be playing a thing in Cerulean City this weekend, and so she quickly volunteered to tag along, seizing the rare opportunity to hang out. After hiking and climbing together, you found that the camp took longer to set up than expected, even between the two of you. There is a big gizmo that looks like a generator but doesn't work, and one of the tents looks like it's supposed to be for emergency trauma surgery or something? Anyway, it's getting late, and there's a storm moving in. While your instructions said to leave the site before midnight, you'll be much better off if you stay right here until morning.

"Good," says Charlie, sitting on the operating table. "I would have suggested it anyway. I want to get a load of this ~mysterious research party~." She holds up her hands and wiggles her fingers for spooky effect. "Don't worry, I came prepared."

She hops down, reaches for her pack, and produces a pair of glass bottles labeled Adult Soda. That's literally the brand name. She passes you your favorite flavor and expertly pops the cap off of her own. The hiss of the shaken booze mixes with the sound of the wind picking up outside.

The rest of the party, after a logistical hangup at the train station, are finally arriving to inspect the camp. Covering your heads from drizzling rain, you see it some fifty meters away as you walk over a grassy hill near the closed mountain pass. Three big tents, around a pit for a campfire. It's not a moment to soon, either. Before you can register that someone else is there, a familiar wave of cold and stillness washes over you.

The wind stops.

You've never seen the mountain this close during the dark hour before. From here, you can watch as crystalline rooms and spires immediately grow into place on the rock face, sparking with otherworldly energy. In the tent, Monty watches Charlie freeze in place, bathed in unnatural shadow, then suddenly light up as a flattened red silhouette with a floating heart at its center.

In place of the silenced wind and rain, the air overhead fills with the chitters and chirps of flying pokémon overhead as they pour out for their nightly raids. The group from Saffron City knows you only have a moment before you're spotted and some of them come your way. When you look again, a little Zorua is already sniffing around outside the medical tent.

What do you do?

Monty

Monty really shouldn't be drinking. Really really shouldn't be. Due to this being in the wild and a 'professional' exercise there would be massive consequences. However, Monty has been on not caring mode for a long while, everyone's panicking, and even his aunt is being weirder than normal. So, you know, screw it. Besides, this is nothing-proof and if rumors are true it means the Fuchsia wardens would get along with him.

"Just make sure to hide the bottles. Looks like we have a friend from Botany coming up and they only jam the largest, most prestigious sticks up their rears."

It's going to be a bad night though, so he's glad the others are here and they can start using generator resources for the heater. Then all he has to do is make sure they don't feed th- what is going on. Everything's wrong. It's... not right. no. Did Charlie spike the drinks? Why isn't she talking what is-

The little black fox from that line of plushies is outside. For some reason it calms Monty; it gets his mind back to the situation. The animals are going crazy. sudden change in the wind and rain. It's not normal for a weather front but it cannot CANNOT be good.

He instinctively tries to pick up the foxling, drawn to it before yelling down to the new arrivals. "Up here! GET TO SHELTER"

Finn is, in the most unfortunately literal sense, not a happy camper. He's been clumsily trudging through the woods, following the others as they head to their destination, occasionally checking his phone for reception, silently mourning as the bars fully drop to nothing and he starts feeling well and truly useless.
Well, not fully useless, as at least he'd thought to bring a proper flashlight, as walking through the forest at night would probably have been a problem without the rain. Occasionally checking his watch as they move, he's rather glad they make it to the camp before the Dark Hour hits.

Of course, Dark Hour hitting still brings with it a whole slew of problems, not least which is apparently someone else at their campsite also being awake for it. Hoping that it's actually one of the folks they were meant to meet here, Finn rushes in closer to the camp, trying his best to stick under the tree line and, hopefully, out of immediate sight of the bats he knew were about to pour in. Fiddling with the runic circle pendant connecting him to Emrys, he summons the fennec fox near the tent that the stranger just exited. "Hey! Introductions will have to wait, things are about to start getting a lot more intense in a moment. Keep your eyes on the sky. Emrys, let's go, head on swivel!"

The Fennekin yips once, eyes on the sky, intently gazing into the darkness, a slight heat haze beginning to build around him.

As Fletcher pulls up his hoody, the thought pops into his mind. Why today, of all days. It’s rainy, cold, and dark. At least someone thought to bring a flashlight. He follows along, walking to the campsite, and then the dark hour hits. He immediately summons Charles, and tries to connect emotionally with him. Fletcher projects thoughts of alertness, and tells charles to strike anything in the air down.

(Sorry if this is not very good. This is my first time role playing through PBP, so I’m still getting used to it.)

Cursing creatively at the delay, Roland strapped his flashlight into place as he ran. The little aquatic creature that had attached itself to him – more-or-less literally – appeared clinging to his belt where his gun would have been if he hadn’t turned that in along with most of his equipment from the force when he went on psychiatric leave. He felt out of his depth in the woods away from the streets he usually patrolled, but people needed him to be here, so here he was!

There was a heart glowing in the camp – Roland frowned, he’d thought there wasn’t supposed to be anyone still here. As a result he almost called out the bogey sniffing around the tent, but Excidium (as he’d taken to calling his little creature) jabbed him sharply in the hip with a head spine, distracting him long enough for the bogey’s human partner to go running for it which, in turn, prompted Roland to realize his mistake.

“Circle the camp, we’ve got an open heart here and they’re going to lose it in a minute if the bogeys get in!” Roland barked in his best rally-the-masses voice.

Spoiler: OoC

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Since we get our Trainer bonuses, I’m going to go with Attack and Defense for Athlete. I believe that’s +1 Combat Stage to both, with the added effects of +2 Bonus on Accuracy Checks to hit with Combat Maneuvers and 5 Damage Reduction when intercepting attacks from Training Regime.

I’m also looking at Orders Roland can bark out. My default action would be to drop Excidium off by the about-to-be civilian casualty and bind Brace For Impact on him, with the intention of layering on Sentinel Stance when the bogeys get in range for that to be useful, however I have Leadership, so if someone else would rather be the one to babysit the bait, let me know.

If I’m doing any of this wrong, also let me know!

The little plushie-looking kit squeaks when it's picked up, but once Monty has him in his arms, Zero clings to his shoulder like he doesn't want to be put back down.

The camp is arranged such that the tents just about meet at their front corners, giving the site a clear front and back. Attracted to the group's shouting and movement, a quartet of small flying pokémon descend from the sky to follow you toward the camp's front side. There are two of the same kind of Zubat you've seen before, followed by two egg-shaped bird-types, whatever they're called. You have just enough time to beat them to the tent entrances and prepare to fight!

Even as you run to the camp, though, a pair of fluttering yellow bug-type monsters zip out of the woods and between the tents to harass the newly-united Monty and Zero. Zero yelps at their appearance and looks to Monty for direction. Did these cutiefly follow him here?

Before you even have a chance to decide whether to put him down, the bugs make the decision for you, zig-zagging through the air as they buffet Zero with sparkly wind. The first knocks the little guy out of your grip, causing the second attack to mercifully blow between you and miss.

Spoiler: INITIATIVE! (also game mechanics)

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Welcome to the world of pokésona! These monsters sure do like to fight each other, huh?

Each round, your team will choose and roll for your actions all at once, in no particular order. As soon as I make a GM post, it's your turn until every player has posted!

Some enemies are faster than you! This includes enemies who are tied with your fastest party member for speed. When that happens, their attacks happen before your turn. In this case, they attacked Zero, and one of them hit for 27 Fairy-type damage. This damage doesn't account for defense, weakness or resistance, so... be sure to do that when adjusting your hit points. (In this case, it's super-effective! Sorry, Zero!)

Some enemies are slower than you! As long as at least one party member is faster than an enemy, that enemy will TELEGRAPH what they're going to do after your turn. If you are faster than that enemy, you might be able to BEAT THEM TO THE PUNCH, preventing them from taking their intended action. There are any number of tactical ways to make this happen, but the simplest is to knock them out with damage! (If you can't beat the enemy to the punch, it will take its action before it becomes affected by your attack. This means that sometimes you and an enemy can knock each other out in the same turn. This is fine.)

Any questions? Ask in the OOC thread or in Discord!

Speed Order:

Cutiefly 1: 15 (Fairy Wind vs. Zero: 27 Fairy damage)
Cutiefly 2: 15 (Fairy Wind vs. Zero: MISS)
Monty: 15
Fletcher: 13
Zero: 12
Charles: 12
Zubat 1: 11 (Telegraphing Supersonic vs. Emrys)
Zubat 2: 11 (Telegraphing Supersonic vs. Charles)
Finn: 10
Emrys: 10
Roland: 10
Excidium: 9
Hoothoot 1: 5 (Telegraphing Tackle vs. Excidium)
Hoothoot 2: 3 (Telegraphing Hypnosis vs. Charles)

Finn remains remarkably calm when the Pokémon descent on the camp, a look of focus falling over his face. Fiddling with his flashlight for a moment, he tightens the beam of light, before focusing it on one of the insects that had hit Zero. "Emrys, go for the bug. Burn it down."

Emrys, for his part, idly glances at one of the Zubat for a moment, as he notices its about to attack. Not too concerned, he sends a swift wave of portentous energy at it, before focusing his full attention on the bug that had hit Zero. A moment later, the campsite is briefly lit up as a small, but remarkably bright mote of flame is flying towards the Cutfiefly, connecting with the insect in a brief flash. Emrys uses the flash of distraction to position himself, trying his best to get some more space.

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Finn - 67/67 HP - AP: 5/6
Emrys - 41/41 HP - 0 Momentum

Finn uses Focused Training on Emrys as an Action. Finn uses Duelist on Cutiefly 1 as a Swift Action, Cutiefly is Tagged.
Emrys uses Omen on Zubat 1 as a Swift Action. Its Accuracy is lowered by 2.
Emrys uses Ember on Cutiefly 1! Ember hits! Ember deals 35 Special Fire Type Damage before Special Defense or Weaknesses. Emrys gains 1 Momentum!

End of Round, Emrys will gain 1 Momentum.

As the monsters descend, Fletcher remains focused on Charles, opening up a connection in his spirit. He tells Charles “Strike that thing out of the sky!”

Spoiler: OOC

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Fletcher uses Channeler as a swift action, and then Spirit surge as a standard. Charles uses Thundershock on the Zubat targeting Charles. To Hit: [roll0] Damge [roll1]x1.5

Monty
Monty - 70/70 hp
Zero - 13/44 hp

Being attacked by flying things from fairy tales, Monty still hasn't collected his thoughts. There's a tiny cute being taking shelter in his arms. His best friend is- are those things after her?

The only thing that makes him snap-to is when the kit jumps in front of some kind of energy going towards the pair. Shock seems to instantly fade as Monty decides he needs to take action. Then everything in his perception stops moving. His heart starts beating and a voice begins to speak to him, at once from somewhere on the wind but also inside his own mind.

Is this all you are? Will you let the world die for your sloth?
You've accepted the pain given to you, doing nothing in return. Being rolled over.
I can help you stop them from hurting everything you love.
find your wrath.
Find your truth.
Repeat after me.

I am thou...

Monty suddenly snaps into action, his stance changed. A wave of dark energy radiates from him. The newly awakened trainer points at the flying foes.

"Zero! You know no mercy!"

Spoiler: Actions

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Monty - Standard action to apply Inspired Training to zero, giving +1 evasion, +2 save. Cheerleader grants Excited.
Zero - move to attack cutiefly 2
[roll0] vs AC2
[roll1]

Zero will take any potential pack hunt attacks as presented vs AC5 for 1 tick

Roland dropped off his partner by the civilian’s silhouette – the little creature wasn’t terribly mobile on land, so it was best he start off where he needed to be – with the instructions to, “See if you can wash those things out of the area, Excidium, and brace yourself for anything!”

Excidium wriggled his way into position in the midst of the attacking foes and unleashed a spray of bubbles.

Spoiler: OoC

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Roland: 70/70
Excidium: 44/44

Roland is binding 2 AP for Brace for Impact on Excidium, 4 remaining.

Excidium uses Bubble on Hoothoot 1 and both Cutiefly. Rolls in the Dice Thread.

Finn's Fennekin blasts one bug out of the air in one shot while Zero jumps and lands a good scratch on the other. Excidia the Horsea bounces up next to them, then turns to face his feathered pursuer. He catches the Hoothoot and the remaining Cutiefly in a blast of bubbles. The owl catches itself on one taloned foot, while the bug is sent hurdling unconscious into the unlit fire pit with a *splat*.

The Hoothoot looks back up at Excidium, hops from foot to foot a couple of times, then rushes forward and tackles the horsea, sending him tumbling into the tent with the frozen Charlie. (Tackle deals 31 Normal Phys damage before defense effects, and pushes Excidia a bit.)

On the other side of the fire pit, Charles follows Fletcher's pointing finger and zaps one of the zubats with sparks from its antenna. As the bat goes down, its friend swoops near Emrys, but the little fox hears it coming and handily evades the supersonic chittering. (MISS)

Nearby, the slower and puffier-looking of the two Hoothoot lands, sits still, and stares at Charles eerily until Charles happens to turn and look into its eyes. It's two big, round, hypnotic eyes against one, and the floating robot starts to feel drowsy. It turns out that's a thing that can happen to robots! (Hypnosis puts Charles to sleep.)

Spoiler

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I'll list out some positions based on what I've noticed, guessing that people stay near-ish to their pokémon

In the green medical tent: Charlie, Excidium
Just outside the tent: KO'd cutiefly 1, Zero, Monty, Hoothoot 1, Roland
Fire Pit-adjacent: Zubat 1, Emrys, Finn, KO'd cutiefly 2 and zubat 2, Fletcher
A bit further away than that: Hoothoot 2, Charles

Next round, start! All of the enemies that are faster than you are KO'd.

Speed Order:

Monty: 15
Fletcher: 13
Zero: 12
Charles: 12
Zubat 1: 11 (Telegraphing Leech Life vs. Emrys)
Finn: 10
Emrys: 10
Roland: 10
Excidium: 9
Hoothoot 1: 5 (Telegraphing Tackle vs. Zero)
Hoothoot 2: 3 (Telegraphing Tackle vs. Emrys)

Finn lets out a surprised half laugh when Emrys swats the Cutiefly out of the sky in a single shot, breaking his focus enough to notice the foresty person drop a surprisingly brutal line for a newcomer. Grinning, he glances over to Monty for a moment. "Oh, this'll be fun" The moment of distraction comes and leaves quickly though, as he snaps his attention to the all too familiar sight of a Zubat, beam of light soon enveloping (unbeknownst to the sightless bat). "These things are getting tiresome. Emrys, you know what to do."

Emrys, ears still ringing somewhat from the Zubat's sonic assault, fires another mote of bright fire, hitting the bat square in the body. He tries to keep some distance between himself and the bat, but is wary of straying too far from the camp.

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Finn - 67/67 HP - 5/6 AP
Emrys - 41/41 HP - 2 Momentum

Finn uses Duelist as a swift action against Zubat 1. Zubat 1 is now Tagged.
Finn uses Focused Training on Emrys as a Standard Action.

Emrys has 2 Momentum. Emrys has +1 Accuracy and +1 Evasion against his Tagged opponent.
Emrys uses Ember against Zubat 1! AC2: 6; 33 Special Fire Type Damage! Emrys gains 1 Momentum on a hit.
Emrys moves a couple of meters away from the Zubat.

At the end of the Round, Emrys gains 1 Momentum.

“Oh crap!” When Charles falls out of the sky, Fletcher runs over, to check if he’s ok. Fletcher starts shaking him. “Wake up buddy! Now’s not the time!”

Spoiler: OOC

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Charles save:[roll0] I shake Charles awake.

Roland charged the red-eyed…thing…calling to his partner, “Target whatever you can reach, Excidium, but don’t leave the civilian’s side! Keep them protected!”

Spoiler: OoC

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Roland: 70/70 (4/6 AP)
Excidium: 20/44

Roland is going to Slam Hoothoot 1.

I’m not sure of the distances involved, so:
if it’s still up, Excidium uses Bubble on Hoothoot 1.
If it’s not then if he can hit a bogey without getting out of intercept range of Charlie, he will do that.
If there are no bogeys he can hit without leaving Charlie unprotected he will activate Brace for Impact as a Standard Action.

Yell if I'm doing anything I shouldn't be!

Monty
Monty - 70/70 hp
Zero - 13/44 hp

With the attacking flies down and another going into the camp, Monty doesn't have time to really gain a full appreciation of the tide of battle. Instead, he's still half-angry and half-in the zone. Answers can come later.

"Zero, run them down!"
The little kit follows after the Hoothoot nearly looking like just a black blur in the night before striking at it from behind. With another ally coming to attack, Zero also has opportunity to works his fangs.

Spoiler: Actions

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[roll0] vs AC2 [roll1]

If Roland hits, Pack Hunt triggers
[roll2] vs AC5 Damage = 1 tick

Charles, as he wakes up, pinpoints where the attack came from, and, feeling angry, fires a bolt at that Hoothoot, hopefully knocking it out of the sky!

Spoiler: Rolls

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To Hit: [roll0] Damage: [roll1]X1.5

The group by the tent goes for an all-out-attack on their hoothoot. The blow-by-blow details are a bit of a mess: Roland shoulder-checks Monty by accident while he and Zero are doing their pincer attack, leaving Roland without enough momentum for a good hit, and then they all have to jump backwards to not get caught in a bubblesplosion afterwards, but the end result is still good. Hoothoot One is reduced to a pile of suds and feathers.

Hoothoot Two is somehow having a better time, despite Charles' efforts. It reflexively hunkers down and fluffs up its feathers to resist the electric attack. Feathers now brimming with smoke and static, it then resumes charging at Emrys to avenge its fallen ally.

By now, the zubat that was attacking Emrys has already gone down in flames. Emrys was a second too late to avoid its sucking bite, but it's easy enough for the fire-type to shake off. The sudden owl-tackle hits a bit harder, if only for not being specifically weak against the Fennekin. (21 Phys Bug and 20 Phys Normal damage, respectively. Tackle also pushes Emrys around a little, but that's mostly good for you.)

Spoiler: One More Round

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Everyone who has a Pokéball knows at least some legends of what they're supposed to do. Will any of you try using one, I wonder?

In the green medical tent: Charlie
Just outside the tent: Zero, Monty, Excidium, Roland
Fire Pit-adjacent: Finn, Fletcher
A bit further away than that: Hoothoot 2, Charles, Emrys

Speed Order:

Monty: 15
Fletcher: 13
Zero: 12
Charles: 12
Finn: 10
Emrys: 10
Roland: 10
Excidium: 9
Hoothoot 2: 3 (Telegraphing Tackle vs. Emrys again)

Dang, should have caught that Zubat! But I will throw a poke ball at it.
AC 6 [roll0]

AC 6 [roll0] Capture Rate [roll1]

Emrys digs his claws into the ground and skids to a halt after the Hoothoot's attack, growling slightly. Finn, without missing a beat, moves his focus from the Zubat to the owl. "Almost done here, Emrys. Let's end this." His voice is steady, most of Finn's initial excitement replaced by focus.

Emrys lets loose one more spark of flame, hitting the orbular bird square in the body.

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Finn - 67/67 HP - 5/6 AP
Emrys - 23/41 HP - 4 Momentum

Finn uses Duelist on the Hoothoot as a Swift Action.
Finn uses Focused Training as a Standard Action.

Emrys uses Ember! AC2: 18, DB6: 36 Special Fire Type Damage. It was not a natural roll of 18, so it doesn't Burn the target. Emrys gains 1 Momentum.

Emrys gains 1 Momentum at the end of the Round.

Roland indicated for Excidium to keep his position protecting the civilian and prepared to hit the remaining bogey again if it was still moving by the time the rest of the group was done with it.

Spoiler: OoC

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Roland: 70/70 (4/6 AP)
Excidium: 20/44

Roland is going to Slam Hoothoot 2 if it’s still up, assuming it’s still a threat and no one waves him off. Excidium will Brace For Impact again.

Fletcher decides to try throwing one of the metallic balls his professor gave him, but having never thrown one before, he predictably misses the mark. The hoothoot jumps and glances at the ball long enough for Emrys to seize the distraction and finish it off with one more ember attack. Once it's down, it and all the other fallen enemies vanish, each with a flash of colored light and a muffled *pop*.

Cut the battle!

The four of you and your pokémon are now alone in the still and silent camp. You can make out a few shadows of distant monsters far overhead, but none of them seem interested in coming to bother you.

The camp is comprised of three tents arranged around the unlit fire pit. On inspection, you can see extension cords between them and strings of lights hung up along their entrances and inside of them, but of course those aren't working right now.

The tent on your right is bright red, and inside of it is a short folding table surrounded by cots and blankets.

In addition to Silhouette Heart Ghost Charlie and the operating table, the green medical tent in the middle has a stretcher, crutches, a big chest full of supplies and tools for trauma treatment, and a cooler shut with a combination lock.

The cramped blue tent on the left has three workbenches with drawers of tools and various electronics. There are unlit monitors, a microscope, an oscilloscope, a dot matrix printer for some reason, and in the very back of the tent, a large contraption vaguely resembling an old generator. It has some dials and meters, but no apparent fuel intake nor any guide to its use besides the rote instructions that told Monty how to plug everything in. To Fletcher and Roland, this isn't surprising. Professor Claire seems pretty big on keeping details secret. You'll have to actively examine it to figure it out.

As you explore, Emrys occasionally twitches his ears and looks up at a ridge near the mountain pass.

Also Monty might be entitled to some kind of explanation?

What do you do?

Monty

Well for one, there's a lot of fading adrenaline, stress, and alcohol coming together combined with... something... that happened to him in the last two minutes or so. That means, shortly, the first thing done is emptying his stomach. While not pretty, the rest of the group can take some solace in that recycled "lemon-lime hurricane" doesn't create an immediately awful smell.

For the short-term, Monty's not thinking about all the craziness going on around him, but rather on getting some water down from out of his pack. Considering everything, it's a safe assumption he's going to freak out some more once the he notices the world not returning to normal.

Zero, meanwhile, his licking his fur clean, runs across some remaining sparkles on his coat, and makes a displeased face.

Roland paused to scoop up Excidium so the aquatic creature could cling to his belt again before trotting over to Monty. “You all right son? I admit I wasn’t expecting anyone else to be here, but you held up well. This your first Dark Hour?”

Fletcher Immediately rushes over to Zero and applies a potion. Is anyone else hurt? he asks worriedly. He also examines the medical supplies and cooler, looking for anything useful.

Monty

When Roland approaches Monty, Zero snaps to attention and moves between the two. With all the sudden happenings, the little guy isn't sure where everything stands and is trying to act ferocious. The meek little squeak he gives out doesn't help, but if Fletcher doesn't try and move too fast, Zero won't turn down any help.

Monty himself sort of half-hears the words and starts getting a grip on things. His mind clearing up he asks, "What are you talking about?" his eyes move over to the tent where Charlie is and he tenses up. "What's going the f-". Then Monty remembers what happened immediately when things got weird. Unless stopped he's liable to bolt over to the tent.

Finn, seeing that Roland has approached the newbie, takes a look around the camp, after taking a moment to ensure Emrys isn't too hurt. He notes the padlocked box in the medicine tent, but quickly moves on to the next tent, not too keen to stay with the ghostly women, letting Fletcher do his thing. "Let's see what we've got access to first. Did the Prof tell you any codes or anything?". "Let's see what we've got access to first. Did the Prof tell you any codes or anything?"

Not really waiting for an answer, he moves on to the next tent, though he notes what has Emrys worried first. "We'll take a closer look over there in a moment, let's catch our breath first and take stock of the camp."

Entering the blue tent, Finn visibly brightens. Even if there's entirely too much physics and engineering type equipment packed in there, it's still a clear sign of proper civilization. He immediately moves over to the generator to try and get the gear working.

Spoiler: OOC

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Edu: Technology to fiddle with the generator: 13

At Zero’s display Roland holds up both hands to show they’re empty and he’s unarmed. (From his belt, Excidium squeaks something that might be a scolding.) “Whoa there, little friend, I’m not going to hurt your partner, see?”

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MCerberus

"What are you talking about?" his eyes move over to the tent where Charlie is and he tenses up. "What's going the f-".

---

“Maybe I should start with the basics,” Roland suggested, figuring that a more normal start to the conversation might help calm the younger man down. “My name is Roland Harcourt, Saffron City police. This is my partner Excidium.” The little Horsea piped something that sounded like a greeting. “You are currently experiencing a Dark Hour, a split second of time that, for some of us, stretches out for about an hour and strange things happen. You aren’t crazy, you aren’t hallucinating. Assuming nothing else shows up like those things we just fought, your friend in the tent will be fine and will be back to normal once the Dark Hour ends. I will warn you that having experienced the Dark Hour once you’re likely to experience it every night going forward. Now with that out of the way, are you hurt? What is your name?”

The big, unlocked chest in the green tent has packaged sponges and gauze and stitches and whatnot. If Fletcher wanted, he could probably assemble five first aid kits from the contents and still have the reusable examination tools left over, but having it all organized in one place is pretty convenient. The big padlock on the cooler is kind of strange on examination. It's a 3-digit code, but instead of numbers, the wheels have what look like fifteen old slot machine symbols.

Spoiler: Symbols

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Coins
Double Cherries
Double Peppers
Dragonfruit
Ghost Pepper
Fluffy Dandelion
Rock Candy
Ice Cream Cone
Lucky 7 (Styled like a lightning bolt)
Lucky 7 (Styled in a starburst)
Letter R
Beedrill
Diglett
Poliwag
Eye (Styled like a pokéball)

In the blue tent, Finn recognizes some pads and inductors set into the top of the mystery generator. They match up with the design of the dark tape recorder that Fletcher's magnemite has. Perhaps it's also meant to interact with a pokémon? Other than that, it sure does look like the thing is meant to provide power to the lights and equipment in here.

As you explore, you begin to hear what Emrys keeps looking at. It's an occasional muffled crashing sound, coming from inside the mountain.

Monty

Zero still looks a little tense but his stance softens just a little bit. The tiny fox looks around for a moment before squeaking another "Zor".
What do you want?

For his part, the delay from talking has got Monty outside of only reacting giving him time to think. There's still a sense of dread and wanting to make sure everything is actually alright but it gives him breathing room.

"I'm Renault, from the forestry program. They had me set up this camp and- wait does this have something to do with the zombies?"
An inelegant way to describe people effected by whiteout. It's a terrible thought though, the botanists may have actually gotten him killed by sending Monty up here.
"And why did a stuffed animal make a deal with me to fight fictional critters?"