PTA: Dusk Island (IC)

[MintyNinja]

It's been 3 days since the S.S Caroline has left Vermillion City, it's last stop before Dusk Island. The time seems to have flown by, what with the multitude of distractions and entertainment on board the luxury cruiser. The sun is high and far ahead of you as the island comes into view. A black speck on the horizon that steadily grows before you.

Less than an hour later and the S.S. Caroline is in the shadow of the great hollowed out volcano of Dusk Island. From here you can see clearly why the city is named Dusk Island. At the inside base of a volcano there is very little sunlight, and so if it weren't for the thousands and thousands of lights, you wouldn't be able to see the city at all. But you can, and so you see the boardwalk that stretches from the massive dock towards what looks like a marketplace at the head of the inlet. To the right you see dozens of hotels packed tightly together, and across the inlet, where the boardwalk continues, you see more of the same. Looking past the marketplace, deeper into the city you see the downtown core, all tall buildings and small cafes.

But rising higher than all of them is the true city center: the Dusk Island Mall. A tall, square building that is flooded with lights. From the top a giant screen seems to be playing something, but you're too far to see it clearly.

A bell tolls somewhere and passengers start flowing out of the ship and onto the docks. As each of you turn to go with them a sailor stops you and asks, "Can you help me? The captain needs someone to make a delivery, but most of the crew have already left. He said he'll pay you."

Day 1, 3:00 PM

[planswalker]

"Sure thing. What do you need where?"

[passinglurker]

bit long backstory-ish-like-thing

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It had been a roller coaster month for Dave it started at his birthday where his father announced that he would not be learning the family business like he expected, but that instead they were going to ship him off, and that he was going to live on his own as a pokemon trainer, or what ever he wanted to be, and when he was ready he could come back, and his father would teach him all of his secrets. dave didn't know what to think on one hand he was hoping since he was 10 that his parents would stop keeping him at home to care for mom's herb farm and let him explore the world, but the disappointment of not learning from his father was now too over whelming to be happy but he faked a smile any ways the rest of the month passed like a dream with him passing between the fun and excitement of being on him own and the sadness and uncertainty of feeling like his father rejected him. He knew it wasn't like that but he could not think of why his father decided to send him out on his own and it was eating him on the inside. he was pondering these things when the sailor tapped him on the shoulder.

"huh?... oh!... yeah as long as its on the level I'm up for making a few extra poke."

[BluesEclipse]

Blake nods at the man and says, "Happy to help... what's being delivered, and to where?"

[DemoniaKitty]

"Sure, what do you need help with?" she says with a smile.

[Leahn Novash]

Chuck salutes, and says, "I am happy to oblige, captain. It is part of my duty to help citizens in need."

[MintyNinja]

Collin, Dave, Blake, Chuck, and Mika

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Each of you follow the sailor that approached you and you soon find yourselves outside the captain's quarters with the others. Before you can all introduce yourselves or scan each other's pokemon, the Captain enters the hallway. He whispers to one of the sailors, "Is this all you could find? Guess they'll do." He then turns to the small group of you and says with a smile, "Hey, thanks for coming. A few of my crew have taken sick and most others have disappeared into Game Lane, the Casino District. So I need some help delivering packages to the local Courier's Office. Yeah, it seems like they'd have someone to send here to collect them, but apparently not." He takes a better look at the five of you and then decides to drop the smile. "Look, here's the deal: You bring these packages, unopened, to the Courier's Office in the downtown area and I'll authorize payment of ^100 to each of you from my own account. And, to make sure you get there, here's a Dusk Island Map Card." He looks to one of the sailors and jerks his head. The sailor goes into the quarters and returns with 5 packages, each wrapped in brown paper. Each package weighs about 5 lbs and is about the size of a loaf of bread. You're each handed one, as well as a small cartridge that fits in your P-Gear. "If there are no questions, then a deal's a deal."

You five now have access to the Map!

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Michael

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You follow the crowds out onto the docks. Most people tend to flock to any of the dozens of hotels, but there seems to be a group heading towards the marketplace. Where do you want to go from here?

[Leahn Novash]

Chuck replies, "Sure thing, captain. I will make sure it is delivered safe."

[passinglurker]

"yes sir"
dave then pauses for a moment before leaving
"it would probably be bad to set a bunch of pokemon loose in the hallway so if any one wants to swap scans I'll be waiting down by the dock for a little bit before dropping this off"
he then leaves scanning anything he can find along the way

[BluesEclipse]

"Not a problem," Blake says as he slots the card into his P-Gear. "We'll make sure these get to the office." With that, he turns and follows Dave out, following the other trainer's lead and seeing what he can scan along the way.

[planswalker]

Collin nods "It'll be done, cap'n. Unless there's something else, let's head out now."

"Don't know about you, but I'd prefer to get paid as soon as possible. I'll hang around by the docks after the job to scan anyone's pokemon they wish as well as get my own scanned in turn."

[passinglurker]

"have you seen the map its on the other side of town! I don't know about you but hiking back and forth for a few scans sounds more time consuming this will only take a sec. and its best if we travel as a group if your really worried"responds dave

when he gets off the ship dave releases his phanpy nosey and waits by the stairs for the others still scanning any mon he finds out in the open

[planswalker]

"The walk will be good for you, but fine. If you don't like that, I'll loiter around outside the courier's office if you want to scan. Either way, I'm getting doing the job I'll be paid for BEFORE I loiter off on my own time."

[passinglurker]

"good point, come along nosey" says dave turning to follow

the little phanpy toots(trumpets?) with joy as it follows its master and the impatient human into the city

"my names dave by the way, dave smither" shouts dave as he tries to catch up "whats yours?"

[planswalker]

"Name's Collin Brady. Sorry if I got off on the wrong foot with you. I was just raised to do my job first, play later. Mamma would have smacked me if I'd done anything else. Hope I can make this up to you soon."

[BluesEclipse]

Following along with the others, Blake listens to the discussion between the other two trainers before shrugging. "Well, I can't say it doesn't make sense to head there first, though I figured it would make sense to go as a group, and scan along the way." Blake tucks the package under his arm briefly before releasing Celeste, who quickly falls into line behind him. "Anyway, I'm Blake Denos. And this is Celeste," he says, motioning towards the Eevee. Scanning the Phanpy even as he continues moving, he says, "So, where're you guys from, if you don't mind my asking?"

[passinglurker]

"nice to meet you I'm Dave and I'm from kanto" says dave to blake then turning back to collin "how does spliting the cost for a camp site sound?" gesturing towards his purple tent bag strapped to his pack

dave also scans the Eevee

[DemoniaKitty]

Mika heads towards the Courier's Office with the group scanning the Phanpy and Eevee, Keahi happily follows her.

[planswalker]

"Sounds fine with me. I was planning on sleeping under the stars no matter where I ended up. Sleeping under a roof has caused us to lose our connection to the Great Earth.

I hope you pardon me if I don't release Sybaris yet. She's a little temperamental and there would be no way I could contain her enthusiasm with all these new sights while we walk. I'll introduce you after we drop off the items and I can introduce her to the city more gradually."

[passinglurker]

dave acknowledges mika's presence with a friendly wave and scans her cyndaquil

as they reach the end of the port dave pulls up his map and asks everyone "so do we want to go through this 'board walk market' or around the south side?"

[planswalker]

"Unless someone has a merchant phobia, I suggest we take the direct route. Just try not to be too distracted by the merchandise."

[MintyNinja]

Delivery Group:
Apparently the Captain has a rule about having pokemon roam the ship while docked because there is nothing aboard the S.S. Caroline to scan. The five of you leave the ship and chat while you walk towards the Courier's office. You follow the docks northward towards the boardwalk Marketplace and closer to the city center. From the great height of the ship's deck the distance didn't seem to be too far, but while walking you come to respect the size of the city.

The Marketplace seems to be a place to trap tourists before they spend all their money elsewhere. The Map Card each of you were given is being sold for ^75 everywhere, and sometimes higher. But there is an economic logic to this madness, as there seems to be a lot foot traffic coming in from multiple angles. A glance at the map shows that you can follow the Market Place through the downtown core and reach the city center, or you could take the south easterly road and pass by the Day Care center and one of the Greenhouse Zones.

3:15 PM


Michael:

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Still technically paused at 3:00 PM. I will try to manage the timelines as well as I can, but if it becomes exploited, I will become vindictive.

[planswalker]

Collin will vote for walking straight through downtown. "I think we'll want to take a nice thorough tour of the city after the job."

[passinglurker]

dave looks closely at the orange block where the courier office is located I hope there is a path through "I don't have a merchant phobia my folks raised me to be thriftier than that" he recalls nosey so they don't get separated and starts making his way through the crowd

[BluesEclipse]

Blake glances around at the merchandise on sale here, before shrugging. "Sounds like a good idea... Definitely seems like there's quite a bit to see here." Quickly scanning the Cyndaquil, he addresses Dave, saying, "Kanto, huh? Never been there... I'm from Sinnoh, myself." Looking at the other two members of their group, he asks, "How about you guys?"

[planswalker]

"I was born in Unova, but my conclave traveled a lot. Spent most of my time in Hoenn. I found Sybaris as an egg in the desert there when we were conducting meditations under voluntary deprivation. I was in Johto most recently on my quest to get in touch with the Great. Sorta wandered onto the boat because it felt... right."

[DemoniaKitty]

Mika smiles and waves back at Dave "through the market sounds good to me as well"

[BluesEclipse]

"Interesting," Blake comments. "You're pretty well traveled, then... that's nice. Ever been here before?"

[planswalker]

"Interesting," Blake comments. "You're pretty well traveled, then... that's nice. Ever been here before?"

"Nope. I've been to a lot of places, sure, but there's a LOT more places to be seen."

[MintyNinja]

Delivery Team:
You five decide to travel through the midday crowds of the market and along the riverside boardwalk. To your right you can see dozens of tall buildings and a myriad of walkways at ground level. But all around you are stands selling homemade jewelry a snack foods. A large man even offers massages, for pokemon only. To the left, you see a river devoid of life or obstruction. The water moves slowly towards the bay in almost complete darkness.

Ahead of you it's like someone cut the city in half. The open sky spans the entire river and far ahead you can see the Dusk Island Mall, much closer than before. At it's top, with screens angled slightly down, you can see a pokemon battle play out on repeat. There are captions and a running commentary from some unseen announcer. It's a fierce fight between what's labelled as an Arbok and a Seviper, but in the end the Arbok wins with a move labelled as Crunch. The quick bite is brutal and more commentary follows. They also announce that there'll be another match tomorrow in the Arena.

After another 20 minutes of walking and talking, you find yourselves in an open park beneath the Dusk Island Mall. People are everywhere, and a few pokemon seem to be roaming about as well. There's a small kid walking a pack of Rattata around the perimeter of the park; a full grown adult in a business suit with a Pichu sitting on his head as he reads a book; and a battle. The battle is pretty low level and so there's next to no one else watching them, but a Charmander and a Diglett were just tearing into each other.

Roll a Spot/Wis check (DC 12) to open this:

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High above you is a lightly colored bird that seems to be circling the park. (Pidgey)

3:35 PM