Printable View
As Fletcher releases Charles back out, in the corner of his eye he sees the disk. He recalls hearing about one of these things in a textbook on occult medicine that he looked at studying treatments from specific vegetation.
“This is a TM. It will allow certain Pokémon to learn dig, a bit like the Onix. I don’t think any of us can learn it
(Do we get XP from this?)
Monty
Monty looks over the charm still not quite grasping how it was supposed to work, but it seems like the theme of the day. While the others are talking over the TM, he goes over and sees what became of the one that didn't work. Zero sniffs it for a moment before going around to investigate the rest of the battlefield.
"So what happens to the monsters," he asks. "After they get hit with these things?"
“They go inside, I think.”
Finn glances over to Fletcher in bafflement at his answer, before turning to Renault. "Supposedly, it tames the Pokémon caught, makes them more willing to listen to you, like our partners." He gestures vaguely towards Emrys and Zero, before taking the ball containing the Elgyem out of his pocket. "Not entirely sure how to get them out though..." He fiddles with the ball for a few moments, before releasing the Pokémon contained within.
“So what you’re telling me is, this isn’t going to explode if I pick it up.” Roland replied, doing so. “Does anyone want it?”
Spoiler: OoCI think the only party Pokemon that can learn it presently is Zero.
Monty
Monty takes a look over at the small weird guy being released and reformed and tries to think if that would actually be safe. Zero, meanwhile seems curious about the TM, getting closer as much as feasible to investigate.
In Fairness, Fletcher isn't wrong about the pokémon going inside the balls. After just a little bit of fiddling, Finn's pokéball pops open and the elgyem rematerializes. It tenses up looks around as though it's expecting to be attacked. Its little eyes and gem-fingers flicker before it seems to realize that the fight is over. It turns and looks up at Finn, then hangs its head, defeated.
Zero can pick up the glassy TM card. Nothing stops him, and it doesn't blow up or anything. Between the legends and the combined explanations of Fletcher and Finn, you sort out that these devices need to be activated by a monster's trainer while touching the pokémon that wants to learn the move.
Spoiler: Active InvestigationFeel free to ask questions and make rolls that you think make sense to help you answer them.
Obvious exits are the crystal stairs up and the way you came in.
It's always a bit of a crapshoot as to how long the Dark Hour lasts for you all, but you can probably guess a warning sign or two that will happen first.
Monty
Zero grabs the TM in his mouth before prancing over to Monty. After butting his head against Monty's leg for attention, Monty bends down to see what Zero had collected. Taking this opportunity, the Zorua nudges it towards Monty's hand, causing something in the mechanism to click. Still a little unsure about what exactly that thing does, Monty turns his attention towards the newly captured alien-looking thing.
He isn't exactly the scariest person around, but that role can be handled by the cop. Instead, it may be better to calm the small thing down. Zero seems to understand human language well enough, and so do the others.
"So hey little one, I know more than anything everything is really confusing right now. We don't want anything to get worse, so can you answer any questions the others have?I think I have something of a treat in my pack if everything goes well."
SpoilerZero learned Dig!
[roll0]
Finn is visibly uncomfortable with the defeated demeanour of the Elgyem, never having been the best with dealing with emotions, and he's quite relieved when Renault starts talking to the alien first. Still, he's still the Pokémon's trainer, so he really should say something here... "Listen, I know the situation isn't great, but the alternative would've been you ending up reduced to dust." Realizing this isn't exactly a comforting thing to say, Finn winces slightly before continuing. "Consider it a chance to keep going for a bit longer, if nothing else. I'm not sure how much Pokémon care about these things, but we're trying to help out people, do some good. You can help with that. We really don't know anything about why the Pokémon wild during the Dark Hour do what they do, and I figure you have a better idea of that than we do. Help us out, please, share what you can."
Finn falls silent, trying not to think too hard on how rambling and incoherent all that had been, all too aware the psychic type would probably be able to gleam some of his thoughts. Instead he tries to focus on their mission, on the concept, the feeling of understanding - all the while trying to stave off that familiar sense of understanding for the moment, wanting slightly more agreement from the Elgyem first.
Spoiler: OOCFinn is quite bad at emotions. Command roll to get information out of the Elgyem: 8
The power of the TM rapidly flickers with unreadable blobs and symbols as its power transfers to Zero. Then, the device goes blank. Monty loses the TM and gains one Glassy Tablet. It doesn't do anything, but it might be useful for crafting or research.
It could just be the monster's alien mindset, but Finn's words don't seem to reach it. Its eyes instead follow Monty's hand to his pack when he mentions a treat.
Monty
Add the weird lights and runes to the pile of questions for some time later. Zero seems to be fine, Monty thinks, as the little kit is back to sniffing around the area. In the mean time it seems like he has the weird guy's attention and it seems to be cooperating. He gets a peanut butter chocolate bar out of his pack, unwraps part of it, and hands it over.
"So what do we even ask it?"
Finn deflates a bit when the Elgyem - his Elgyem, theoretically - fully ignores him and instead focuses on the promise of food, but he tries his best to stay on task. Seeing that Renault seems to be having at least some success in getting the creature to listen, Finn tries his best to bolster his resolve. "I don't know, either we go big and ask why the Pokémon do what they do with the Sleepers, then maybe get some answers, but he might as well not know why beyond.... instinct or something. Or we go small and ask what's upstairs here, what this place here. Bit more discrete, probably easier to get answers for. Baby steps and all that guff." As he talks, his minds starts whirring, considering the topic of communication. Finn is used to talking (for a given value of that word) to things that don't think like him (for a given value of thinking). It's about precision, and conveying his meaning in ways the receiver can understand.
Perhaps he should be less worried about shielding his thoughts, and try to send his message through a medium that the Elgyem, a Psychic type, would be more suited to process.
Of course, that's a lot easier said than done, and it's not like Finn had any real experience in this kind of thing, no matter how much he had listened to Xena talk about astral projection and manifestation and prayer (which, depending on interpretation, this might count as? Religion was weird), actually performing anything like that was hardly the same. He tries his best to open his mind, trying to emulate the feeling of connection between him and Emrys without directly calling on that (if nothing else, cause an explosion of elemental water seemed counterproductive right now), trying to, through pure force of will, communicate a feeling of understanding and curiosity to the Elgyem, a want to know him, and understand his home.
Spoiler: OOCJust in case this is a stupid idea, Pokémon Education, what do I happen to know of this species? Edu: Pokémon: 11
Thinking *real hard* at the telepath always works, right? Focus: 24
Not seeing any need to intervene directly just yet, Roland just did his best to loom intimidatingly in the background to make sure the creature didn’t try to do a runner or anything else problematic.
Spoiler: OoCIntimidate = 12
Fletcher, seeing that Finn is struggling, will ask him if Fletcher can establish a bond with this elygem. If I can I will establish this bond, and then try focusing thoughts of calm to this elygem. “You’re fine, everything will be ok. We are here to help.”
Elgyem are famously connected with the idea of aliens from outer space, and are occasionally depicted alongside a crashed flying saucer of unearthly material. Modern satellites have discredited the idea of space monsters, but the artifact in the depictions could have had some other purpose. They're relatively social, and have a tendency to mimic human behaviors and mannerisms.
The little guy happily takes the candy bar and takes a bite, then freezes when it senses the intense focus from its new trainer. It glances at Finn and tries to follow his gaze without making eye contact with Scary Roland.
Fletcher's channeling, should it happen, gets some poké-emotional feedback. The Elgyem is trying to figure out what Finn wants it to do.
After a few beats of time, it looks up at Finn and tries offering him the rest of the candy bar. Literally sharing what it can.
Finn vaguely gestures for Fletcher to do as he wants, not responding with words. He thinks he feels some sort of message being passed... maybe, but he has to switch gears when the Elgyem offers him some of the candy Renault had given him.
Ah. Sharing. That tracks
He smiles softly, gently pushing the candy back to the Elgyem. "That's quite alright, thank you. You eat that. I'm just wondering if there's anything up the stairs here that we need to be careful about?"
He quickly glances over to where the Elgyem - he really needs to figure something out to call him - is pointedly not looking, and sees Roland looming. "Yo, Protocol, at ease. He's not gonna do a runner, no need to keep up the bad cop vibes."
The Elgyem looks at the crystal staircase. From what Fletcher can tell, it's not worried, but it doesn't want to influence Finn's decision either. It's more interested in seeing what the trainers think once they're up there.
It keeps its gaze leveled on the stairs as it slowly resumes eating its peanut butter bar.
Roland relaxed his stance. “10-4 son.”Quote:
Originally Posted by Harbringer
Monty
Since the others seem to be interrogating the little guy by partially staring real hard, Monty takes a moment to just zone out. He fiddles with the remnant of the TM for a bit before his brain drifts to the hope that this is all just a weird trick and Charlie laced the drinks.
Again.
Zero just paws at the cave floor, seeming pleased with himself.
Finn nods in understanding. "Right, fair enough. Going in blind. Emrys has taken a beating, so I think it's best if you take point for now..."
Darkness. Hitting suddenly even with the constant draw, perception moves from reality to the metaphysical, the now almost familiar state of understanding.
Finn knows his own self, where he stands and what his borders are. He knows where Emrys is, sees where the two places overlap. A third position has emerged, still tentative from freshness, violence, and an alien nature.
Shapes don't quite align, movement doesn't go along proper vectors, thoughts don't follow one another as they would for Finn.
Still, Finn is used to talking with strange intelligence, interpreting vague and cryptic signals. He knows how to handle strangeness.
He understands.
"... Hex. You're up for the moment, Hex," he says, naming his newest companion. Doing his best to shake of his experience, he straightens up, looking up the stairs before turning back to the group.
"Well... the Pokéball do seem to be doing what they're supposed to do. Renault, you wanna check in with the puffball you caught before we move in?"
Monty
"Oh, right," Monty responds being snapped back to reality. The Igglybuff pops out and takes a quick look around. After a moment it makes a gesture at Zero, who responds by growling.
"So, what did you want to see about it?"
"Iggly"
Igglybuff huffs performatively, but doesn't seem meaningfully opposed to joining the team. It and Hex lead the way up the steps. The wide staircase leads into a dark path with a low ceiling, its walls a combination of natural stone and faintly-glowing crystal formations. It gradually twists to the right before opening up to a chamber at the next level up.
At the top of the steps is another chamber, maybe 15 meters on a side, shorter and squarer then the one you left. Before you can approach to look further, Hex stops in front of you, grabs Igglybuff's little shoulder, and raises one of its gem-fingers to mime a shush pose. It points to the far left corner of the chamber, where another Elgyem is gesturing to the edge of a half-finished crystal wall as more crystals slowly grow into place. It looks like it's magically building up the crystal, somehow.
The wall on the right also seems partially built of crystal, and leads down a crystalline corridor in the far right corner, decorated with more of the round glowing sconces that act as light sources. You can see at least one large, closed door on the right side as well - stone, with crystal filigree and no visible hinges.
SpoilerYou can roll stealth to try and sneak up on it, or roll any other knowledge or observation checks you desire as you ask questions.
Monty
Low ceiling. Either they reached the end of this cave or it's where two chambers have formed. The door makes the latter likely. Considering the others' expressed ability to navigate without immediately stumbling into danger, Monty decides to take the lead.
"I'm going to take a look, we don't want to rush into another trap. Zero, eyes up."
"Zor," Zero affirms.
With Zero eyes and snout attempting to detect threats, Monty makes his way forward to the door. If there isn't anything unexpected beyond what seems to be the normal in this place, he'll sloooooooooooowly attempt to open the door and see what's behind it.
Spoiler
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
Finn attention is drawn unwaveringly to the wild Elgyem doing... something to the walls to... grow them? Build them? Vaguely aware that Renault and Zero are quietly moving through the room, he mostly focuses on the crystal wall, trying to figure out what's going on with it.
Spoiler: OOCPokémon Education (to know more about Elgyem): 7
Occult Education (to figure out what's up with the crystal walls): 12
Not being a Pokémon expert, Roland just tried to intuit whether this was the sort of room where nefarious things happened, for example if this was a likely place to stash guards or alarms, or the crystal-building was something they needed to stop immediately or just the Pokémon equivalent of building a house.
Spoiler: OoCIntuition Roll = 10
Roland can intuit that the chamber you're currently looking at isn't used for much of anything except as a landing for the stairs. At least, not yet. The room is still under construction, it seems. The routes branching off of it are more stylized with crystals and doors, so it looks like they're building out and downward from some place further in.
Finn is reminded of a story about a hive mind of Unown that conjured a crystal palace to grant a child's wish. Elgyem aren't the same thing as Unown, but they are also psychic, so... maybe they can also have that occult ability sometimes? But whose wish are they granting, in that case?
Monty can sidle over to the door while the wild Elgyem's back is turned on the other side of the room. He can see a black hemisphere set into it, about 30cm in diameter, that looks like a model of a new moon. It looks like the door is supposed to rotate around its center, but it is sealed and heavy, unable to be moved by hand.
From this new position closer to the corridor, Zero can make out the sound of another small creature, snoozing in a dark corner at the end of the hall some 30 meters away. The right side of that hall seems to have a few more doors like this one. Alas, this stone door is blocking out all sound on the other side of it, assuming there is any.
Monty
Monty tries out what the deal is with the the door for a bit before Zero snaps him back to reality with a low growl. The kit is glaring down the hallway, indicating a threat. Not really able to make any progress on the door, he makes his way back to the group to see what they want to do.
He speaks, still keeping his voice down. "There's at least one more thing out there. The door has an indent on it but don't know its deal. More doors too."
“I think we need to assume there are more bogeys behind the doors,” Roland opined. “How are we going to get farther without raising the alarm?”
Fletcher will stay back, waiting for the group to have consensus.
Monty
Monty takes a moment to think it over. Well not too long of a moment. "Only one was paying attention we can take it out immediately and have more breathing room." Zero nods before looking like he's ready to pounce.