Pokésona - Blue Version (In-Character)

[Harbringer]

_{"... so if that leads here, and if I'm reading these dials right, and judging by the wiring and material over here... hook up the memory killer and hope for the best?"} Finn mutters under his breath as he works to figure out the machine. He looks over the rest of the equipment in the room. _{"And that'll presumably power all this guff, letting us... run tests? Not like there's anything else actually running for me to connect to, so my options are gonna be a bit limited."} He considers the generator again, judging the size. _{"... might need more Pokémon to power it though..."}

Thinking this over, Finn exits the tent again, catching the tail end of Roland's words and Renault's introduction. Kneeling next to Emrys and handing him some small snacks and water to recuperate some energy. As he does this, he somewhat flippantly responds to Renault. "Yeah, welcome to the world of Pokémon. All myths and stories are true, magical creatures roam the earth between the ticks of a clock, and whatever they're doing to people robs them of their personality." He pats Emrys on the head, tone turning a bit more serious and contemplative, "My computer stopped working, Emrys showed up, one of those blue bats showed up, I panicked, tried to figure out what the hell was going on, and... had an understanding, He stands up and faces Renault and Roland properly. "A small understanding about myself, and Emrys, and our place in things and how those places overlapped. We've worked together pretty well, I think. Not quite a deal, similar enough, perhaps? He shrugs, "Guess it'll have been different for Cursor or you, though," - He gestures to the medical tent, where Fletcher is still busy, and Roland in turn - "if yours is so different from mine. Personalized experiences and all." He grins wryly, before noting the continued twitching of Emrys' ears. "Oh, right, something's out over there... something's making a ruckus up in the mountains."

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Using an Enriched Water on Emrys, healing him for 20 HP

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I said stop it, you’re being silly. We’re trying to help, Excidium repeated to the Zorua.

"My computer stopped working, Emrys showed up, one of those blue bats showed up, I panicked, tried to figure out what the hell was going on, and... had an understanding, He stands up and faces Renault and Roland properly. "A small understanding about myself, and Emrys, and our place in things and how those places overlapped. We've worked together pretty well, I think. Not quite a deal, similar enough, perhaps?

Finn had covered things pretty well, so Roland just nodded.

“Me and Excidium had it about the same way. A pair of the bats had chased me into an alley, and I’d tried to grab my gun and brought up Excidium instead,” Roland replied, smiling fondly at the memory. It had been the first time he’d been out of the house at midnight after the ‘hallucinations’ started, not long after he’d started therapy. His fiancée’s condition and other recent events had had him too wound up to sleep, so he’d gone for a run…and then the Dark Hour hit, and the bats attacked, and he’d forgotten he didn’t have his gun on him. He’d probably looked quite ridiculous: ‘Freeze, Saffron City Police!’ and then bubbles everywhere…

"Oh, right, something's out over there... something's making a ruckus up in the mountains."

“What kind of ruckus?” Roland asked. ‘People partying’ was unlikely out here, especially right now…

[Harbringer]

Finn shrugs as he looks over to the mountain. "Not too sure, Emrys seems to have mostly picked up on it, but there's this crashing that gets pretty obvious once you've picked up on it. Like there's something thrashing arou..." he trails of in thought, looking from the mountain ridge to the sky above them, where he can still spot the occasional bat flying by. "Something thrashing around a cave. Shaking up the place. Agitating the locals." His gaze snaps back to Roland. "Wanna bet that whatever is thrashing around in there is the reason the Zubat are trekking so far from the mountain back to town? Cause they don't really seem like they'd normally fly out this far." His voice quickens as he thinks out loud, and he seems ready to head out towards the ridge at any moment.

[MCerberus]

Monty

Monty listens to the explanations and stories but can't really hear them. He's a bit shell-shocked from all of this and everything doesn't seem to be adding up. Time freezes and it makes the mountain glow. Someone tried to throw what looked like the charm his aunt gave him at one of those things.

Zero is having a better time of it. Having been assuaged, he'll allow everyone to talk and do what they need to do. Being the curious sort, with Fletcher may end up with his hand licked if they get too close.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Finn shrugs as he looks over to the mountain. "Not too sure, Emrys seems to have mostly picked up on it, but there's this crashing that gets pretty obvious once you've picked up on it. Like there's something thrashing arou..." he trails of in thought, looking from the mountain ridge to the sky above them, where he can still spot the occasional bat flying by. "Something thrashing around a cave. Shaking up the place. Agitating the locals." His gaze snaps back to Roland. "Wanna bet that whatever is thrashing around in there is the reason the Zubat are trekking so far from the mountain back to town? Cause they don't really seem like they'd normally fly out this far." His voice quickens as he thinks out loud, and he seems ready to head out towards the ridge at any moment.

“Might be. Or they could be out of…prey…close to home.” Roland frowned, considering. “If we didn’t have an open heart here I’d say we should check it out.”

[Harbringer]

Finn stares at Roland in disbelief for a few moments. "You're kidding, right? We can't just... not investigate the only bloody clue we've had just because there's a single person slightly in danger! There's thousands of people in Saffron that are in just as much danger, that we're not currently actively protecting, so why is this single person right here enough to fully stop us from doing anything? We went here to figure out what is causing all this, and we're not going to learn anything just twiddling our thumbs in this camp. We have a something new and abnormal happening, right where all the Zubat are coming from, we have to go look! It's the entire reason we took a trip out to this Uxie forsaken stretch of the woods!"

He breaths heavily for a few moments, gathering his wits, "I get that we have to try to keep people safe, but, just, like..." He trails off before stomping over to the medical tent. With some effort, he zips the entrance to the tent closed, not quite clocking that Fletcher is still working inside. "There! No Pokémon access! She'll be as safe as anyone. Probably safer, since we're out here drawing all the attention anyway."

[MCerberus]

Monty

When the tench is zipped up, Monty reflexively stands up still on-edge and his brain not having processed the rest of the group. "What's the other guy..." he trails off. Zero, meanwhile is sniffing around the tent flap before beginning to dig a little. Looks like the kit is going to pop in and say hi. For some reason Monty is okay with this.

His thinking then tries to sort itself into something he does know. "It would be Cerulean. Or Pewter. If they don't need good trails," flying things a terrible thought. "They're both closer."

[Kareeah_Indaga]

"There! No Pokémon access! She'll be as safe as anyone. Probably safer, since we're out here drawing all the attention anyway."

“I don’t like it.” You didn’t stop being responsible for people just because they weren’t the only ones you were responsible for. “But you’re right we don’t really have a lot of options.” Roland reflected that he needed to get used to not being able to call for backup in situations like these.

[Harbringer]

Finn is quiet for a beat, before giving a nod, most of his anger having burned out. "Right. None of this is optimal. We do what we can." He glances over at Renault, vaguely hoping that he could come to grips with things at a slightly faster pace. "There's probably a good number headed there as well, yeah, but there's definitely still enough getting to Saffron to cause trouble."

That said, he turns back to the mountain ridge that the noise is coming from, ready to leave, seemingly honed in on the mystery source of the sounds.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

When Finn looks up at the ridge, he sees a few rocks tumbling down the cliff face from above. Then a couple more. Then, with a series of five escalating crashes, the stone cracks and bursts open with a cloud of dust and rubble. It's hard to see through the dust before it settles, but you can all make out the crested head of a massive monster. Its pale, glowing eyes shine through the dust before it retreats into the hole it just made.

Spoiler: Perception/Knowledge/Survival rolls

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Roll the better of Perception and Pokemon Education, DC 7:

Spoiler

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Yep, that was an Onix alright. As it retreated, you notice another glowy thing taking its place. It looks like a little guy.

Better of Perception or Survival, DC 9:

Spoiler

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Another Zubat was thrown out when the rock burst open. Looks like it landed in a tree. If you go to the ridge directly, it might attack you from behind, but if you go get it now it might still be disoriented.

Survival/Pokemon Edu, DC 11:

Spoiler

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Two of the rocks that were ejected from the new tunnel looked like they were alive. They curled into balls and tumbled down to the bottom the ridge. You'll probably run into them if you try going over there.

[Harbringer]

Finn takes in the scene at the mountain ridge, eyes tracking movements at high pace. Onix, little guy, Geodudes, Zubat. He tracks the trajectory of the Zubat, and seeing it land half dazed in the trees, starts heading toward it, wanting to take it out before it can regain its bearings. Emrys runs a few paces ahead of him. He calls back to the rest, not too concerned on if they're following him or not. "Giant rock snake in the mountain, called an Onix, with some little guy I can't really identify. Two stone dudes at the base of the cliffs, look like rocks, called Geodude. One of those bats was thrown out into the trees, I wanna make sure it's not a problem before we head out there."

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Excidium squeaked out something Roland had learned through association was a request for water, to the Saffron officer broke out the water bottle he’d brought.

Spoiler: OoC

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-1 Enriched Water, 0 remaining, Excidium’s HP now at 40.

While he drank, Roland helped point out any of the creatures the rest of the group didn’t immediately see before following Finn with Excidium. Finn was someone Roland was responsible for too!

[MCerberus]

Monty

Inside the tent, Zero sniffs around and takes a little sniff at Fletcher before poking at the new person with his paw to get his attention. Regardless of Fletcher's response, Zero zooms out of the tent through the small gap he dug.

Back outside, the fox nudges the water Monty was attempting to open, getting the desired response of Monty opening it so Zero can have a drink.
When Finn decides to go out, it at least registers in Monty's brain something that he should be doing.

"Have you ever been out here in the dark? You trip on something out alone and nobody's coming for you."
There's the implicit offer in that the Monty will go along, at the very least to figure out what these things do or are when not trying to murder everyone

Spoiler: OOC

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forum ate the post recreating it from the last save
Water used on Zero bringing him to 33hp

[ProgressPaladin]

As Fletcher walks out of the tent, he sees that those rocks are moving, and looks to the others for guidance. “What might we do?” He also responds to Finn, saying “They might also be Sandshrew, right?

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Finn, Roland, maybe Monty, and their pokémon take off for the spot where the zubat crash-landed. Due West form here, it's about the same distance from camp as the Northwest ridge, and far enough from the ridge as to still be clear from dust and rocky debris. When you get there, it doesn't take long to find the zubat; it's not as though there's any other movement around.

In one of the tall pine trees, about eight meters up, you see a tree branch shaking. The dizzy and confused zubat is climbing back and forth on it, trying to get its bearings. The question becomes: how are you going to get up there?


Meanwhile, from the clearing of the camp, the rest of the team has a better view of the ridge as the dust settles. A second glance convinces Fletcher that both of the living rocks are geodudes - even curled up and semi-disguised, they don't have the smooth texture of the usual sandshrew depictions. The little guy at the top of the ridge is harder to identify, at least from this distance. It looks like it has little glowing things in its hands, and is focused on shining them on the tunnel entrance for some reason.

[ProgressPaladin]

(I got 11 on both perceptions, do I still see the Onix?)
I will go over with the others and have Charles fly up to the Zubat, and have it use Thundershock.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

The Onix has retreated back into the tunnel and is no longer visible.

When Fletcher elects to tag along with the group going after the zubat, he loses sight of the ridge altogether; where the camp is in a clearing that has line of sight, the trees in most of the area will block your view.

Charles dutifully floats up the one shaking tree and zaps the zubat. As seems to be the norm, it is knocked out in one shot, barring anyone's actions to the contrary. (In this case, the enemy was weak enough that it's not worth rolling for a whole combat over.)

Now what?

[Harbringer]

Finn had been considering how to reach the Zubat in the tree, taking into account how far Emrys could project his fire when a sudden bolt of lightning breaks his concentration. He turns back to the others as the Zubat falls from the tree, looking slightly baffled. "Why did you all follow me? I had thi- Oh never mind." He vaguely waves his arms to dismiss the thought. "Let's just get to that ridge and see what's going on there."

[Kareeah_Indaga]

"Why did you all follow me? I had thi- Oh never mind." He vaguely waves his arms to dismiss the thought. "Let's just get to that ridge and see what's going on there."

“We talked about this. No one runs off alone during the Dark Hour if it can be avoided,” Roland reminded. “We can’t exactly radio for help if something goes wrong. But I agree we should clear the area.”

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

With the party all together, the team could navigate easily enough to the ridge with Monty's skills; it would only take as long as it took to get here, that is to say, a few minutes. Or, you could backtrack to the camp first and then take the obvious path.

Spoiler: Rolls?

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Here is where you would roll stealth if you want to sneak up on the geodudes.

Here is also where you roll survival to possibly find/create an advantage over them using the terrain.

...or any other action or skill check you think might be relevant!

If you backtrack, you'll guarantee that nothing snuck into your camp while your backs were turned, but it also means taking longer to get to the ridge.

[MCerberus]

Monty

Monty begins scanning the area around the area where the two boulders the others are saying are those things and begins doing an inventory. Escape routes, ways to go in, pathways up safely, and if there is any way they can get the things surrounded. After the first fight it looks like it's easy to get hurt so having everyone together should end it quick, right?

More importantly they need to do it without running afoul of the rain that had come through. Safety first.

Spoiler

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looking for paths up that are the safest and wanting to find flanking opportunities
Survival - (5d6)[19]

[ProgressPaladin]

Fletcher will step up to the group. “Hey, may I try something? During the dark hour I’ve been able to connect with these Pokémon on an emotional level. I wanted to ask if I might be able to establish a connection with yours. May I?” Fletcher looks up at Charles. He tells him to go ahead, but be careful. Charles would be able to sense that he is scared.

Spoiler: OOC

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Charles has the dead silent capability, so I don’t know if that would help with this situation. His stealth is (3d6)[6]. Fletcher, if the rest of the group says yes, would channel their Pokémon.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Spoiler: OoC

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Terrible Stealth and Survival rolls in the dice thread if they become relevant. City boy Roland is going to be a big liability here I’m afraid!

Roland exchanged a look with Excidium and then shrugged when the latter trilled. “Excidium doesn’t mind, and it would be safer than trying it on one of the bogeys.”

[Harbringer]

Finn glances over to Emrys for confirmation, then shrugs after a moment of silent communication. "Sure thing, no harm to it. Can we get going now, we're wasting non-daylight."

Spoiler: OOC

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9 Stealth for Finn, in case it becomes relevant.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

First, the good news:

Using his forestry know-how, Monty determines that there is at least one reasonable spot from which the team could climb up the ridge without going directly through the geodudes. To do so would likely be a good way to flank them, too. They are sitting at the bottom of a steep incline themselves, and if you're a swift climber or can be stealthy about it, you could climb halfway up and position your pokémon to shoot at them from above.

Which brings us to the bad news, because oh dear was Roland ever not stealthy about it. Not that it's really his fault; two other pieces of rubble settled in the bushes next to him, and were about the right size to have been the enemies, so of course he had some reaction.

However he reacts, the real enemies take notice, and cry out as they move to attack. Even the little guy at the top of the ridge stops what it's doing and comes to look. It's still too high up to join the fight just yet, but you can see it a little better than before - it's a teal alien-looking thing with a big head. Finn recognizes it from a list of so-called psychic types that he saw in Saffron City once.

The geodudes are the bigger threat for now, though.

Spoiler: Initiative and Stuff

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(20 ft. up)	Ridge Top
(Roll athletics to climb up this way!)	Little Guy
(10 ft. up) Ridge Mid W	Ridge Mid E
(Roll athletics to climb up this way!)	( empty )
Ridge Base W	Ridge Base E
(There is rubble here to hide behind, but it's also diff terrain)	Geodude 1, Geodude 2
Woods W (Cover)	Woods E (Oops no cover)
Zero, Monty, Fletcher, Charles	Excidium, Roland, Emrys, Finn

Speed Order:

Monty: 15
Fletcher: 13
Zero: 12
Charles: 12
Geodude 2: 10 (Telegraphing a self-buff)
Finn: 10
Emrys: 10
Roland: 10
Excidium: 9
Geodude 1: 1 (Telegraphing Tackle vs. Roland)
Little Guy: 1 (???)

[ProgressPaladin]

Fletcher, seeing the Geodudes notice them, protects Charles from the ground types as best as he can, and commands Charles to fly up, staying out of melee range, and Supersonic. Immediately, two beam of disorienting light fly out of Charles magnets, hitting the Geodude.

Spoiler: OOC

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Charles gains 8 DR from sage, and Superonics Geodude two. If a hit, confusion, if a miss, -2 on accuracy. (1d20+1)[6] VS AC 6

[MCerberus]

Monty

Well, it seems that the rocks are smarter than the look, but that doesn't say much. Due to being a bit on-edge means that Monty's the first person on his feet when they start stir.

"Zero, the one that's attacking," he commands and is met with an affirmative 'Zor'
Zero rushes towards Geodude 1 hoping to catch it by surprise while Monty starts making his way towards the cliff. At least he can get a better view from up there and make sure there are no more surprises

Spoiler

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Moving to the rubble and will start climbing next turn probably.
Zero attacks Geodude 1
Pursuit - (1d20)[15] vs AC2 Damage - (2d6+19)[28] vs defense
Since he's in melee range potential pack hunt attack for 1 tick if any melee attack htis geodude 1 Pack Hunt - (1d20)[19] vs AC5

[Harbringer]

Finn surveys the scene, briefly noting and cataloguing the little guy at the top of the cliff, before shifting his full focus on one of the Geodude, the beam of light of his flashlight catching the living rock. Lamenting the clear elemental disadvantage at play, he raises his hand to indicate for Emrys to attack -

The world turns black, and everything fades away.

Finn is there but not there, his body gone but all its pieces there.
He knows this world , where he understands his own place to be, and he knows where the place of his partner is, where these places meet.

He knows the many constituent parts making him, the endless parts contained within a finite being, he hears the blood rushing through his ears...

He returns to the world, no time having passed in the no-time. "Emrys, get close to it," he says quietly, pressure building. Emrys darts over to the Geodude, pressure building still, until

The dam breaks. A wave of energy unleashes from Emrys, seemingly without element, and crashes into the Geodude. Finn feels something leaving and returning to him, all at once, and he is not quite sure if what just happened came from him, or from Emrys, or from both, or if that distinction makes any difference.

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Finn - 67/67 HP - 3/6 AP
Emrys - 41/41 HP - 0 Momentum

Finn uses Duelist on Geodude 2 as a Swift Action. Geodude 2 is now Tagged.
Finn uses Focused Training on Emrys as a Standard Action.

Emrys moves up to Geodude 2 and uses Hidden Power! Emrys landed a Critical Hit! Emrys deals 46 Special Water Type Damage!

Emrys gains 1 Momentum when hitting the Geodude.

Emrys gains 1 Momentum at the end of the round.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Excidium wriggled towards the Geodude with determination, aiming to blast at least one of them with Bubble. Roland reacted to the rock monster attacking him by trying to reflexively slam it back. Key word: trying.

Spoiler: OoC

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Roland: 70/70 (6/6 AP)
Excidium: 40/44

Excidium will Bubble as many of the Geodude as he can without getting any allies caught in the blast. Roland will Slam Geodude 1. Rolls in the Dice thread.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

The rock monsters float into the air, pound their fists into their hands and move to fight fearlessly, but Finn and Excidium came with the perfect tools to deal with them. Emrys' hidden power blows the quicker one away, and the slower one is quickly surrounded and bubbled away to nothing. It seems these beings of earth and rock really are weak to water!

The little guy at the top of the ridge sees the whole thing and is apparently smart enough to know when to retreat. It hops into the tunnel from whence it came.

Spoiler

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We are still in combat time, for now. What do?

(blocked)	Tunnel - Entrance
(wall)	Little Guy
(20 ft. up)	Ridge Top
(Roll athletics to climb up this way!)	(You can just walk this way but it's diff. terrain)
(10 ft. up) Ridge Mid W	Ridge Mid E
(Roll athletics to climb up this way!)	Charles
Ridge Base W	Ridge Base E
Finn, Monty, Fletcher	Zero, Roland, Excidium, Emrys
Woods W	Woods E

Speed Order:

Monty: 15
Fletcher: 13
Zero: 12
Charles: 12
Finn: 10
Emrys: 10
Roland: 10
Excidium: 9
Little Guy: 1 (???)