Silly Plots 2: Electric Boogaloo

[Earl of Purple]

Juniperwood Town Ruins

The most important thing about hiding a key you're going to need at some point in the future (but not now) is making sure you'll know where it is when the time comes. The second most important thing is making sure nobody else will find it. Behind the vegetable drawer in the bottom of the fridge? Distinctive enough to remember, weird enough to miss... And by coincidence, in this case secure enough to survive a very long time when the rest of the house crumbled.

The piece of paper is fragile, but fortunately the note was written with ink rather than pencil. It has a code; 4983. The safe has a mechanical dial lock, if set to those numbers, a hidden panel opens to revealing a keyhole. The key fits the keyhole. Inside there's a set of instructions on resetting the dial to a new code, a purple-and-white Pokeball with a letter M on the white half, some important but now meaningless documents (the deed to the house, a will, that sort of thing), a collection of black-and-white wedding photographs, plus later photographs showing the same couple over about forty years, and some gold and diamond jewellery- specifically, two fine engagement rings and a pair of wedding rings, plus an Art Deco-style pendant of gold, sapphire and ruby.

[Deathkeeper]

[Juniperwood Town Ruins]

Jace pockets the photos and the jewelry. He can do a quick search in the Inside records, just to make sure these folks aren’t living in the city and might want that stuff back. He’ll also make sure if there’s a critter in the ball.
”Zubats, they’re fairy weak and would probably not hurt your drone much. We could try exploring the whole place. Crossbow might be fun, sell it to junior adventurers-“
Holy crud Jace is that a master ball? Zebes says mentally.
Jace looks at it blankly.
”Maybe?”
The ball that can catch anything?
”Catching anything doesn’t sound that impressive. You caught a Zapdos with a poke ball out of spite.
Yeah that was blind luck though! And we gave him to the nice professor anyway!
”Well okay, it’s valuable then. Not sure as much as all the gold shinies...”

[UncleWolf]

Ruins of Juniperwood Town

Veronica scratches her chin on her wing as she contemplates a decent way of getting rid of the Zubats. If her time with Jace had taught her anything, it was that even weak little critters like this could be a blight or ruin. Particularly in an enclosed space like this. Still, she had speakers on her drone, perhaps...

She hums to herself for a moment and turns up the volume on her drone before activating her playlist of music. She flips through the songs and snickers when she comes across one before hitting play. Perfect album for this. With luck the music would rouse the Zubats and scare them out of the cellar and out of the house. "Should be taken care of." The harpy says, stepping back away from the cellar before looking over at Zebes with a frown. "What'd he find? You're being uncharacteristically quiet and unsnarky. Something good then I take it? Leave ya speechless?" She teases.

[Earl of Purple]

Juniperwood Town Ruins

The ball is empty, no critter inside it.

The zubats are scared off! They fly up and out of the cellar door and quickly wend their way over to the next house, seeking another roost. Bats are very quick- I've got a bat detector, and they seem faster than birds of the same size, when I see them out and about before full dark.

The masterball is quite probably rarer than the gold shinies, and it's only not as expensive as the gold because Trainers aren't as common.

[Deathkeeper]

[Juniperwood Town ruins]

”Dragonite!” declares Zebes, who forgot that Veronica doesn’t speak pokemon. He shifts back into himself.
”He found gold shinies and a pokeball that will catch anything. Someone was expecting some major local fauna.” he says flatly.

[Murkus]

[The Frescot Home]

"Thumper can come too! He just won't eat." Laela says. But oh, what does she want. Hmmmm. "Ice cream!" The girl exclaims. She loves ice cream.

[The Frescot Home]

"Okay!" Adir can only try to match her enthusiasm. He kisses her temple one more time and sets the little girl down. "Do you need to make yourself pretty, or should we go right now?" Clearly the real joke here is that Laela would have to put in any effort to make herself pretty.

Provided she doesn't really need anything, the stag will lead the way into the yard and help her up into the truck. Maybe she doesn't even need help any more?

[Gullara]

[The Frescot Home]

"I'm always pretty!" Laela claims before scampering off toward the door, Thumper in hand. So much for him leading the way. In fact, she demonstrates just how quickly she can open the door despite the door handle being child proofed. Adir might want to file that away for later. Once Adir opens the truck door (that's a bit too heavy and tall for her) she'll deposit her rabbit on the seat and climb in herself. She's quite the climber, really.

[UncleWolf]

Ruins of Juniperwood Town

"...already gold and expensive stuff? That was quick." Veronica admits, sounding a bit impressed. "Well, the bats are out of the basement now so we can head on down." She adds before turning off her music and slipping on down into the basement, relying upon her drone's night vision to actually see down there. It was a bit awkward until she makes the drone float over her shoulder. Once down there, she'll head over and take the crossbow and darts to shove into her pouch. "Gonna need you to break down this door I think." She tells Zebes as she heads over to the dryer to try and pull it open followed by the washer.

[Deathkeeper]

Ruins Of Juniperwood Town

Jace shrugs and makes sure all their loot is secure.
He thanks his luck for his long boots and hopes there’s no nasty viruses in this water poor Veronica has to trek through. Jace saves Zebes the energy of Changing again and uses a basic spell to pummel the door with a series of force impacts each strong enough to knock a man silly. People underestimate the apprentice mage’s spells too much. If the door breaks he’ll toss a mage-light inside.

Magic Woods Well

Niji grins wide.
”Yep! Now you can use doorknobs!
...
What do we do now?”

[Earl of Purple]

Juniperwood Town Ruins

It was a safe in a ruined bedroom. It would have been more surprising if there hadn't been jewellery in it.

No viruses, though the surface is a little oily and horrid-feeling. The bolt in the dartboard is firmly stuck, and a decent tug will show why- the crossbow was used too close to the target, and the dart penetrated the wooden board and hit the stone beyond, bending the tip. There's still three others, though.

Inside the washing machine is a pile of rags. Somebody didn't empty it before abandoning it, and now the clothes have been ruined by time and water. Searching through the rags will reveal some copper-alloy coins and a shinier coin made of two metals, shiny nickel in the middle and copper around the edge. Specifically, there's a new British pound coin, three pennies and a tuppence, for a total of £1.05p. The dryer has a black t-shirt in it, advertising a band called Delain. It's in quite good condition, too, somewhat surprisingly given the state of the clothes in the washing machine.

The door doesn't resist the blows of Jace's magic, and is destroyed. Beyond, Jace's light spell reveals a small bathroom, with water covering the floor like the rest of the basement. There's a shower cubicle, sink, toilet and medicine cupboard with mirrored doors, but it's pretty crowded- there's not enough space for more than three people, if one's in the shower. Speaking of in the shower, the door's closed and the shower is still watertight, but... There's a shape visible within, slumped against the glass. It looks like a body, but too large to be a child's. The body's skeletonised, so unless either Veronica, Zebes or Jace are good at anatomy to tell the difference, there's no clue as to what gender they were.

[Murkus]

[The Frescot Home]

"I'm always pretty!" Laela claims before scampering off toward the door, Thumper in hand. So much for him leading the way. In fact, she demonstrates just how quickly she can open the door despite the door handle being child proofed. Adir might want to file that away for later. Once Adir opens the truck door (that's a bit too heavy and tall for her) she'll deposit her rabbit on the seat and climb in herself. She's quite the climber, really.

[The Frescot Home]

Adir can only blink at her impressive door-opening skills. That was a bit worrying. She was certainly rambunctious enough to let herself out when she wished. Or, the random thought strikes him, if she wanted to run away!

Alright. Time to put up an electric fence. Chop down the trees within three hundred meters for sight lines. Monster detectors. Alarms! Minefield!

"So. The boys are getting a pet, you know," Adir says, starting up the truck as he casts a sidelong look at his tiny daughter.

[UncleWolf]

Juniperwood Town Ruins

Veronica isn't going to go digging through rotten laundry, so she doesn't discover the change. Nor does she take the Delain shirt even if she liked the band. Despite that though, she's the first into the bathroom to pull the shower door open, just in case there was something in there with the body. She'll then check the medicine cabinet as well.

[Gullara]

[The Frescot Home]

"Whaaat? What kinda pet?" Laela asks, bouncing in her seat. Now he's got her excited.

[Deathkeeper]

[Juniperwood Town Ruins]

”Pretty awful place to go. Was probably starvation or poison, to go out there of all places with the rest of the place intact and a weapon just lying around.”
Bereft of anything to really do with Veronica handling the bathroom, Jace casts his magic sight over the two rooms in case they missed anything.

[Earl of Purple]

Juniperwood Town Ruins

There's a delicate silver chain about the skeleton's neck area, and a pacemaker lies on the bottom of the shower- whomever the body is, they were elderly.

The medicine cabinet is filled with toothpaste, toothbrushes and medicine, but the pills are considerably out of date. Nothing in there is especially valuable.

There's a holster, belt and quiver for the crossbow in one of the disintegrating boxes, with another ten darts with it too. There's also another pokeball in the corner of the room, under the water; it's a perfectly normal pokeball, and empty too.

[Murkus]

[The Frescot Home]

"Whaaat? What kinda pet?" Laela asks, bouncing in her seat. Now he's got her excited.

"A big, gross, pink rat!" Adir says wickedly, wriggling his fingers at her and grinning. "Gwydion apparently wooed your mommy into getting this little buck-toothed alien. I'm not even sure what he eats. Could be flowers. Or little girls, even."

[Gullara]

[The Frescot Home]

Laela screws up her face and sticks her tongue out at her dad. "Probably not!" The girls pulls her seatbelt across and buckles it up. "It sounds funny. Why's it pink?"

[Murkus]

[The Frescot Home]

"Because it hasn't got any fur. It's weird baby pink instead of pink like your head," Adir shakes his head. "I don't know. I just don't see what your brothers see. You wouldn't want a big rat for a pet would you?" He just glances at Laela as he pulls onto the road. "...What kinda pet would you want? If you wanted a buddy for Thumper."

[Gullara]

[The Frescot Home]

"Babies aren't pink." Laela replies, a bit confused. She furrows her brow in thought. "Except Jillian I guess." She amends. She's definitely gonna have to see this fat rat.

But her attention is drawn. "Um um um." More thinking, but her dad leads her thoughts. "Yes! I like bunnies."

[Devixer]

Magic Woods Well

"We get out of here, I imagine. Unless you want to be chased by those morons again?" Ilknur tilts her head and grins at Niji.

[UncleWolf]

Ruins of Juniperwood Town

Veronica frowns when she sees the elderly corpse and she delicately checks the silver chain to see if there is a locket or key on it. She likely won't remove it otherwise. "Elderly. Presumably anyway. There's a pacemaker. If it went faulty whenever whatever happened here happened, it was likely that he or she wasn't even trapped and just passed on almost immediately." She says grimly. "Medicine cabinet is empty as well. What about your end?"

[Deathkeeper]

Juniperwood Town Ruins

Jace shrugs.
”Crossbow accessories, mostly. Man, I haven’t fired one of these in years.”
”I found a pokeball!” declares Zebes, who pops it into Jace’s bag. He used a cantrip to fish it out of the water, obviously. He’s not diving down it that gunk.

Magic Woods Well

Niji shakes her head.
”Well yeah but like, where do you want to go? City? My
Place? Movies?” she asks her. Is that last one a date?

[Earl of Purple]

Juniperwood Town Ruins

No, no locket or key on the necklace. Just a fine silver chain.

Other than that, this house is empty.

So to refresh, there's the house with the kicked-open door and skeleton hanging out the window, the intact-looking fortified house that's all boarded up and sealed, a Pokecentre with a shattered glass door and the thoroughly looted-looking Pokemart with a shelf lying in the street.

[Murkus]

[The Frescot Home]

"Babies aren't pink." Laela replies, a bit confused. She furrows her brow in thought. "Except Jillian I guess." She amends. She's definitely gonna have to see this fat rat.

But her attention is drawn. "Um um um." More thinking, but her dad leads her thoughts. "Yes! I like bunnies."

[The Road!]

"Well, not your mommy's babies, that's for sure," Adir comes to a stop sign and reaches out to poke Laela teasingly in the shoulder. His ears perk and his eyes widen at her suggestion, but he's only feigning surprise. "Another bunny then, ey? Well that sounds perfect. I'm sure he would love the company."

"Though, uh, you might not be able to take another bunny-rabbit everywhere like you do with Thumper."

[UncleWolf]

Juniperwood Town Ruins

Veronica frowns and leaves the chain where it hangs. "Sorry." She mutters quietly before heading out of the cellar. Luckily she'd been wearing shorts and even more luckily her legs were mostly scaled, but even so she takes a moment to kick off the muck and water once they get outside. "Okay, good finds but lets hope that the rest of the place isn't as leaky." She says before looking around at the rest of the town. "What about the shop? Probably looted but probably also the next safest. Then the house with the skeleton, the secured one, and finally the clinic. Does that sound like a good plan?" She asks. If there's affirmatives, she'll head towards the PokeMart, sending her drone in first to make sure that it was all clear.

She'll also use her foot to nudge the shelf and check beneath it just to make sure there wasn't anything valuable hiding under it.

[Deathkeeper]

Juniperwood Town Ruins

Zebes takes his place on Jace’s shoulder as the sorcerer provides Veronica with a towel for her legs.
”That sounds fine by me.” he tells her and lets her lead the way there. He wants to give her a little taste of being in charge. They’re not in any danger right now anyway.

[Earl of Purple]

Juniperwood Town Ruins

The pokemart has a counter against a wall to the left of the door and several rows of shelves, one of which has been pushed over into the window and lies half in the street. All the shelves are bare, though there's traces of goods which weren't looted- a soggy mass of old paper on the magazine rack, shattered glass bottles in a cooler (and one full bottle of Poke-Cola, right at the bottom) and a HyperPotion kicked under the toppled shelf where it's hard to spot but within reach.

There's also a door to a store-room behind the counter, and a pair of tills on the counter as well. Probably a safe of some kind as well, to store the shop's proceeds and change when it's closed. The door is currently closed, and there's a trip wire at the bottom of it- a length of green string attached to the door and the frame. Opening it will trigger the trip wire and, presumably, a trap. It can be disarmed by simply cutting the wire, without pulling it.

[UncleWolf]

Juniperwood Town Ruins

"Looks like there's a bottle of air freshener under here, for what it's worth." Veronica says, gesturing at the fallen shelf as she heads on in. She didn't know what such a potion looked like after all. "Looks like the rest of the front is empty at least." She adds, heading back to check out the soda and see if it was expired. Even if it was, some of these things could be collector's items and worth quite a bit. She doesn't see the tripwire at the store room however, having not gone that way or even bothered to check just yet.

[Deathkeeper]

Juniperwood Town Ruins

Jace checks the tills and sees if he can find a safe. Zebes floats down to the ground to see things from a low angle. He spots the trap quickly as it’s easily at eye-level after he spends a few minutes looking. He bites through it without remarking on it.
”Uh, does it have a label? Could be repellent. Or healing.” the dragon suggests to Veronica.

[Earl of Purple]

Juniperwood Town Ruins

No label, just a pink and white squirty bottle marked with a pokeball symbol. The PokeCola doesn't have a use-by date. But it still bubbles, so it should be good, right?

There's some coins in the tills, but not many. A round out-dated pound coin, a fifty pence piece and twelve pence in copper pennies and tuppence coins. There's also a .22 bullet and a half-packet of chewing gum. The safe is easy to find, but unfortunately Jace isn't the first to find it. There's a crowbar lying nearby, and the safe's hinges have been destroyed to open it, and it's empty.