2024-03-05: Diggings, Deliveries, and Diverted Disasters
- Log: Diggings, Deliveries, and Diverted Disasters
- Cast: Damian Tamaoka, Lan Lilac, Nina Chiyome, Ida Everstead-Rey
- Where: Princebridge Snowfields
- Date: March 05, 2024
- Summary: Trainers and Drifters converge at the Diglett's cave for various purposes.
=========================<* Princebridge Snowfields *>========================== The Princebridge Snowfields sit close to the Indigo Plateau on the elevated reaches of the Emerald Cape, receiving all-year round snow; though largely left undeveloped on purpose to allow for the flora and fauna there to thrive unbothered, segments of the fields are dedicated to resort tourism and research and development projects housed out of nearby Pewter City. With settlements largely dedicated to search and rescue should snow conditions worsen, this pocket of the Kanto Region demands more of the average traveller than the well-worn paths. BGM: Star Ocean: The Second Story - White the Heart - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVz2nMXBbQA
DC: Lan Lilac switches forms to Iron Butterfly! DC: Ida Everstead-Rey switches forms to Gentlewoman Adventurer Ida!
DG: A party led by Damian Tamaoka is now entering Diglett's Cave. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Diglett's Cave *>==============================
==============<* CHALLENGE - You're Not Doing A Damn Poop Quest *>==============
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You've arrived at the mouth of Diglett's Cave, one of the main entrances to
the cavern. Out there is a man wearing a hat, who is wringing his hands, and
looking concerned. An exhausted Tepig is on the ground next to him, looking
up at the sky with a mournful look. When the man spots you, his eyes light
up!
"Ah--you there! Trainers! Or... something?" You, to be fair, may well not
look like the average Pokemon Trainer. "I--er. I need some help. See, my
Tepig ate my wife's wedding ring. I--I think it came out, but he, um, went
in the cave. A few times."
He smiles hopefully. "Could... could you find his Tepoops and just... see if
the ring is in them?"
NOPE. Time to go! But how to tell him this?
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, and |
| Stupify:_Wits_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Damian is... wandering a bit again! He's spent so much time cooped up in Lavender Town that he's barely gotten to see much of Energy Nede, and whatever his other current woes are, this is a chance to satisfy his desire to travel more.
He also likes pokemon, so seeing natural places where they gather is also of interest to him, ans so now his wanderings have brought him to Diglett's Cave! (Plus seeing the machinery that keeps Nede running might be neat, too.) He seems in decent spirits today as he approaches the cave, dressed in his shorts and hoodie as always, with a backpack on his back and Purri riding his shoulder for comfort.
There's a pause when they see the man pacing back and forth in front of the cave, and Damian is ready to go around him when he sees--
An exhausted Tepig. "Awww..."
Damian steps right up to examine the Tepig. "Ex-excuse me, sir, is your Tepig--"
The man turns and grins broadly. "Ahha! A trainer! I need your help!"
Damian looks up and blinks. "U-um, sure... I might have something for your Tepig to eat if he's tired...? I-I don't see any smoke, though, s-so that's good..."
"Oh, no, he's perfectly fine, I assure you. The thing is..."
He explains.
Damian's eyes go very wide.
Did he just call them tepoops...??
Damian and Purri share a glance. Yeah. Not happening. But Damian hates lying, and it'll only make his stammer worse, but he wants to let the man down gently... He pulls out his phone and starts scrolling through something. "O-oh, um... I d-don't have any gloves or plastic baggies on me so it wouldn't really be safe b-but the League website has a really good map you can use and best of luck if I see anything I'll let you know bye!"
He's started backing away from the man as he rambles out an explanation, before eventually turning tail and making for the entrance.
Sorry, Tepig. He's love to help, but... that's just too much.
DG: Damian Tamaoka has used his Tool Smartphone toward his party's challenge, You're Not Doing A Damn Poop Quest. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
It's weirdly nice to be back on Energy Nede. It was normally-nice, being back on Filgaia, but Lan had left the Lunatone here for safety and needed to come back for it. She had made a promise to it weeks ago, but with Solaris coming for Azoth and Loren going Full Drive Psychopath and The Part Where Lan Exploded Into Black Ribbons And It Was Bad Forever Until Leah Sadalbari KO'd Her For Safety...
Lan's been kinda busy, okay?!
But a promise is a promise and Lan is going to take Lunatone back to the Crimson Crystal Cave and let it have its freedom, if it wants. Because... well, just because.
She can still battle Blue Oak with a different Pokemon, one she befriended under normal circumstances. One that got to choose to be her friend.
Except that to get there, first she's got to go through Diglett Cave again. It's a shortcut! She's pretty sure!
Except that, uh. Isn't that guy, with the Tepig...
"Really?" Lan can't stop herself from asking, slowing down to look between the Tepig, and the man, and the Tepig. "Really, again? Does this happen a lot? I'm sorry, but why didn't you put the ring away after he ate it the first time? That's so irresponsible!" Lan frowns at him, arms crossing over her chest. "You have a responsibility to take care of it! Not to mention your poor wife probably really doesn't want a ring that's been through a Pokemon twice now!"
Yeah, she was reluctant but ultimately kind of willing to help the first time this happened. But it's just silly to have to go through this twice!
With a disappointed sigh, Lan finally relents enough to pull a folded paper from her pocket. "Look, I'll help you figure out what part of the cave it's in, but I think it would be good for you to have to go find it yourself. I think you'll learn from it."
Lan learned to be a big sister from the best.
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Paku-Paku toward her party's challenge, You're Not Doing A Damn Poop Quest. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Nina Chiyome has posed.
Nina's usually all for helping people out. She gets a rather distinct look on her face when the problem's explained to her. She had been walking along, trying to expand her team. To use her brain more often instead of just acting on instinct. To just.. you know, learn for once. Real life lessons hit hard enough!
Damian's on his own. She quietly offers him a wave as she just... sneaks on past while he's trying to be polite. He's a good patsy for it!
There is.. a moment where once she's past she decides to try and help him out though and she fishes around in her pack and eventually pulls a little smoke bomb. Modified fireworks are fun!
She's about halfway to lighting it when Lan steps up though. She hesitates, looking between the two. Then waves wildly to get Damian's attention. Holds up the firework. Then holds up 3 fingers. Then two. Then one before she tries lighting the thing to throw it!
She has no desire to try and help out otherwise!
DG: Nina Chiyome has used her Tool Tagging Kit toward her party's challenge, You're Not Doing A Damn Poop Quest. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida is here, today, on an errand. Some of the workers in Diglett's Cave needed some parts that were on back-order thanks to fallout from Michael's attack on Pewter City. The parts are ready now, but the usual courier from Delibird is not here, and nor--sadly, and desperately so--is Gwen Whitlock, Super Courier. Ida snapped up the job. She ran into Damian and the others on the road, and she's been vocally thankful for the company.
And then... him.
Ida's eyes narrow. She takes a few deep breaths, and reminds herself that she can just walk away. She can pretend this didn't happen. She can pretend she didn't hear the phrase 'tepoops' for the second time. But the sight of that poor, exhausted Tepig draws her sympathy. Ida glances down at the Pokemon, face tightening in concern.
Catastrophe Sal--seated on Ida's shoulder thanks to her usual backpack space being too cramped thanks to the delivery--trills. It sounds ever-so-slightly judgmental.
"Sir," Ida says, drawing herself up, "as I said before, this would best be handled by the Rangers. And furthermore, this is the second time this has happened." She glances sidelong at Lan, and decides to modulate her tone a bit. "I really, really think you need to see a Pokemon behaviorist about this. I know a few. I have their numbers..."
Oh no. Is Ida about to recommend this to Anne? Is Dr. Aomori going to get a visit from The Tepoops Guy? (No. One of her grad students is. And she's going to insist on him giving a consulting fee.)
Ida dashes down the number and hands the slip of paper over.
"Ee," Sal chirps, and she shakes her head.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool ARMs Meister's Field Kit toward her party's challenge, You're Not Doing A Damn Poop Quest. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
==============================<* Diglett's Cave *>==============================
==============<* CHALLENGE - You're Not Doing A Damn Poop Quest *>==============
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You've arrived at the mouth of Diglett's Cave, one of the main entrances to
the cavern. Out there is a man wearing a hat, who is wringing his hands, and
looking concerned. An exhausted Tepig is on the ground next to him, looking
up at the sky with a mournful look. When the man spots you, his eyes light
up!
"Ah--you there! Trainers! Or... something?" You, to be fair, may well not
look like the average Pokemon Trainer. "I--er. I need some help. See, my
Tepig ate my wife's wedding ring. I--I think it came out, but he, um, went
in the cave. A few times."
He smiles hopefully. "Could... could you find his Tepoops and just... see if
the ring is in them?"
NOPE. Time to go! But how to tell him this?
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and |
| Stupify:_Wits_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
==============================<* Diglett's Cave *>============================== =====================< Results - Diglett's Cave - Round 1 >===================== ===============< CHALLENGE - You're Not Doing A Damn Poop Quest >=============== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Damian Tamaoka 0 --(5)--> 5 Best Smartphone Min Wits Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 0 --(5)--> 5 Best Paku-Paku Min Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 0 --(5)--> 5 Best ARMs Meister's Field Kit Min Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nina Chiyome 0 --(5)--> 5 Best Tagging Kit Maj Wits Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Damian Tamaoka 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1), Reckless(2), and Stupify(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) and Resilient(1) = Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
DG: The party led by Damian Tamaoka has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Damian is... dismayed, to learn that this has apparently happened before. "W-wait, he asked you for help b-before...? W-why would you keep the r-ring near food...?"
Pokemon are smart, but they still need oversight, sometimes!
But Lan and Ida are each reading the man their own versions of the riot act. Lan encourages some responsibility and cleaning up his own messes (as well as Tepig's!), and Ida recommends seeking some help from a behavorialist. Both good options, that might help adress two potential causes of the issue.
The man blinks and perplexment. "W-well, you see, what happened was..." Lan and Ida will not be dissuaded though, and eventually his shoulders sag. "Maybe you're right..." Only maybe?? He sighs and takes the phone number and the offered map link. Then inspiration seems to strike. "Well, what if we went together? Two heads are better than one, after all!"
Oh no. No no no. Damian is trying to fade into the background after this, but it's Purri who spots Nina trying to get their attention. She meows and nudges Damian's cheek. He looks, blinks, and grasps the idea of a countdown pretty quickly.
While the man tries to weasel his way into getting more help, Damian tries to get Ida's attention. "M-m-miss Everstead-R-Rey, um, we should..." How to say this, in front of the man they probably don't want to keep talking to?
Well, then the smoke bomb goes off anyway, which makes the point clear, and Damian just makes a run for the entrance.
The man, however, gets confused by the smoke and looks to his Tepig instead. "Oh no, that ring must've done more of a number on you than I thought!" He scoops the Tepig up. "Don't worry buddy, I'll get you the best help!"
But will he learn his lesson from all this? Odds are... probably not.
DG: Lan Lilac has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Diglett's Cave *>============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Rocks Go Rolling On *>====================== | Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information >---------------------------- There is a honeycomb of passageways dug out by the Digletts that call this cave home. Most are far too small for a person to fit through, limiting the main caverns -- widened over many years -- for Trainers and Drifters who want to explore them. But, Digletts are constantly adding new hallways, and when they do, there is always some stuff that they knock free. In this case, that includes several large rocks -- which come tumbling from up ahead, and rolling straight for you! ============================= Dungeon Conditions: ============================= | Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, | | Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and | | Stupify:_Wits_Down! | = Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Lan gets distracted from all her disappointed frowning when a smoke bomb goes off. "Ah!" She pulls her shirt's neckline up over her nose and mouth (she's started wearing an actual shirt that covers her entire torso since she came to Nede!) before grabbing instinctively for Ida's hand to pull her along. "Let's get going before he comes back with an Embroar...!"
Because Lan is NOT dealing with that. Like, at all!
Whether or not Lan managed to get ahold of Ida, they make it into the cave after Damian and Nina. Damian is clearly an acquaintance of Ida's and Nina is an unknown (but not an Unown), so Lan reaches out to offer her hand to shake once they've caught up. "Hi! I'm Lan! Nice to meet you!" She's a tall Visitor, with those strange stunted ears and dark skin and long, pale hair. "What kind of Pokemon is that? Is it a Glameow?" She's... she's trying, okay.
As they travel, occasionally a load of dirt or rocks will scatter from one of the many tunnels dug into the side of the path they're taking. To their right, there's a steep drop off and another path mirrored on the opposite side of a deep gulch. Up ahead, there's a rumble...
Lan stops yammering at everybody about nothing important when the single Pokeball at her hip opens on its own, a small (for its species) Lunatone emerging only to body-block her and try to herd her towards the cliff edge. "--Huh? Hey! What're you-- uh...?"
The rumble gets louder and louder and the ground under their feet is vibrating now, and there's a GIANT ROCK coming straight for them down the path they're on! Lan yelps and grabs for whoever's closest - she's not picky! "JUMP FOR IT!"
Lunatone floats on ahead, and Lan's silver ribbon glows with the magic she's been feeding it for years as she leaps sailing across the gap for the safety of the far side...!
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Butterfly Ribbon toward her party's challenge, Rocks Go Rolling On. Quicken! Party Agility boosted! Liability! Failure will result in extra Exhaustion!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Oh thank God, Ida thinks, as smoke fills the air. (She heard the faint 'pop' of something igniting; thankfully, the Tepig is fine, aside from recurring ring-related misfortune.) The heiress clasps Lan's hand and dashes off after her, using the cloud to make good their escape. Sal takes to the air, fluttering alongside the group and trilling conspiratorially at Nina.
"That's a Purrloin," Ida says, indicating Purri with a nod of her head. Sal settles back down onto her shoulder, and she waits for a moment, prompting Damian and Nina to introduce themselves if they choose. And then... into the cave.
They don't go far before there's signs of other Pokemon in the area. "Must be Digletts nearby," Ida says, as a few pebbles roll past her foot. Sal nods sagaciously, and chimes in with an affirmative chirp. "They're expanding the--"
*POP*
Lunatone.
"Wait," Ida says, "I think it's trying to--MOVE!" Ida leaps for it, springing for the other side in a standing jump that should, logically, not impart enough force. But bright green motes of light rise from her soles, and the wind picks up, buoying everyone as they cross the gap. Even Sal does an acrobatic little twirl in its currents, showing off a bit for Lunatone!
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Zephyr Boots toward her party's challenge, Rocks Go Rolling On. Quicken! Party Agility boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Nina Chiyome has posed.
Nina's happy to be of service to the rest. Though she wonders about the viability of a trainer that mistakes that smoke cloud for-.. nevermind.
She meets up with the rest at the entrance to the tunnel, rocking from foot to foot and grinning. "See the classics still work." Seeming quite proud of her distraction. It works out and all!
Ida and Lan are both given cheerful waves and she murmurs, "Did he really lose it twice? Think it's a scam?" She rubs her chin and adds, "I bet there's hidden cameras around or something." Maybe. Guy was sincere, but it's weird that it's happened twice.
Nina might be staring a bit too. She doesn't elaborate.
Nina's ride along buddy for the day is her sneasel who probably saves her from awkward questions. And rocks. Said sneasel was probably just being a gremlin not too long ago and now just looks lazy and content to ride her shoulders. That single big ear goes up and she idly nudges Nina and points with a claw and, well. Nina just moves to get out of the way. She also totally doesn't throw more modified fireworks trying to deter or.. maybe collapse that new tunnel with the rolling rocks.
At the same time her favorite set of tools comes out and she's whipping a grappling hook across the room.. high up. Like she's going to swing across to a crescendo of music. (Said music can be heard on her pocketed headphones.)
DG: Nina Chiyome has used her Tool Ninja Tools Box toward her party's challenge, Rocks Go Rolling On. Quicken! Party Agility boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Damian is panting a little once he's gotten into the cave and clear of the smoke bomb. He's trying to get in better shape! ... Slowly, at least. He looks up (waaaay up) to Lan as she introduces herself. "O-oh, um. I-I'm Damian." After a moment's hesitation he reaches out to shake the hand. Is it a Glameow?
Purri narrows her eyes and makes a flat, "Loin." sound.
"C-c'mon, Purri," says Damian. "She's trying..." He looks up to the Visitor. "Th-this is Purri, my best friend, a-and she's a Purrloin, n-not a Glameow." After a moment he says. "Th-they're still cute though."
But once they're inside he finally takes notice of the Butterfree on Ida's shoulder. His eyes light up, "C-Calamity Sal, is that--is that you!? Congrats! Oh--" He reaches for a pokeball at his belt and tosses it out, revealing a cocooned pokemon with a single eye peeking out and several silky spikes. "Sil silcoon!" Silci's normally quiet, but for the former Metapod that was so encouraging to her, she's excited.
"Meet Silci!" exclaims Damian excitedly. "W-we finally decided on a new name."
But Nina's not forgotten as Damian turns to her, starts to say, 'Hi Nina', but then pauses. There is a moment where he studies her carefully, looks at the hair style, and then nods to himself. "H-hi, Nina. I, u-um, met your sister Nami. She s-seemed interesting."
Damian picks up Silci and carries her in his arms as they proceed down the cave. He pauses as the danger of the boulder becomes clear, and looks ill-prepared for the moment. He doesn't have a lot of fancy tools like the others, but thankfully Lan just... picks him up and carries him off. Purri, meanwhile, can just use her excellent feline jumping skills the clear the chasm herself, bouyed up by the motes of green magic left behind by Ida's boots.
DG: Damian Tamaoka has used his Tool Purrloin toward his party's challenge, Rocks Go Rolling On. Fanfare!
==============================<* Diglett's Cave *>============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Rocks Go Rolling On *>====================== | Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information >---------------------------- There is a honeycomb of passageways dug out by the Digletts that call this cave home. Most are far too small for a person to fit through, limiting the main caverns -- widened over many years -- for Trainers and Drifters who want to explore them. But, Digletts are constantly adding new hallways, and when they do, there is always some stuff that they knock free. In this case, that includes several large rocks -- which come tumbling from up ahead, and rolling straight for you! ============================= Dungeon Conditions: ============================= | Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Quicken:_Agility_Up!, | | Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, and Stupify:_Wits_Down! | = Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
==============================<* Diglett's Cave *>==============================
=====================< Results - Diglett's Cave - Round 2 >=====================
======================< CHALLENGE - Rocks Go Rolling On >=======================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Damian Tamaoka 5 --(0)--> 5 Best
Purrloin Min Agility Effects: Efficient and
Fanfare
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lan Lilac 5 --(0)--> 5 Best
Butterfly Ribbon Min Agility Effects: Quicken,
Efficient, and Liability
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ida Everstead-Rey 5 --(0)--> 5 Best
Zephyr Boots Min Agility Effects: Quicken
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nina Chiyome 5 --(0)--> 5 Best
Ninja Tools Box Min Agility Effects: Quicken
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leader: Damian Tamaoka 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass
Conditions: Injure(2), Reckless(1), and Stupify(1)
Effects: Quicken(1)
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
DG: The party led by Damian Tamaoka has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Oops! Lan is trying her best, but there are so many kinds of Pokemon! And it seems like every time she turns around, she has to add more to her mental total. How many animals can one planetary fragment actually have?!
A lot, as it turns out.
Lan's sandals touch down on terra firma once more, a little of her usual grace lost to the fact that she had a passenger of sorts. "Are you okay?" She checks Damian for injuries - he's just a kid, after all. Unlike Nina, who is a slightly older kid but also some kind of proficient adventurer already. A grappling hook? For real?!
Lunatone settles patiently at Lan's side, spinning once, waiting for the shaman to get her act together.
"--And anyway I get that we're kind of barging into the Digletts' home but I think it would be really nice of them to shove their loose boulders and stuff into that hole and not just down the path," she concludes, apparently able and willing to just. keep. talking. about it.
Ida will be used to it, at least...?
DG: Nina Chiyome has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Diglett's Cave *>==============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - A Wild Diglett *>========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
As you walk through Diglett's Cave, the ground ahead of you rumbles...
...and a Diglett bursts out! It is a short, round-headed, cylindrical
Pokemon with fur, black eyes, and a round pink nose that erupts from the
ground. It opens its mouth and bellows a challenge at you. Then, several
rocks pick up off the ground, and launch themselves at you!
This Diglett wants to do battle!
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Quicken:_Agility_Up!, and |
| Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Nina Chiyome has posed.
Nina's brushing herself off and fiddling with the hook to unentangle it from the convenient.. don't worry about what it grappled too. Winding it over her arm, she ties it carefully and stuffs it back in her kit before clapping her hands and smiling. "No one died, great." It's easy to joke when no one was even hurt!
She does offer a cheery wave to the butterfree when it's called out. That's not what she'd been staring at.
She's still not sure what Sal was suggesting per..say though!
"Nina!" she replies to Lan, "I think we've met though." She was clearly a bit distracted. Don't worry too much about her.
And Damian's given a thumbs up of encouragement when they land. "You met one of them huh?" She knows. She got texts about it. "Nanoha's nice isn't she?" This is Nina's attempt to tease.
A diglet pops up out of the ground with angry eyebrows. Nina's half distracted, but the sneasel uses it's little paws to turn her head and her first response is, "Aww that's adorable-" until the rock flies by her head complete with some fluttering hair. "And about to get slapped for some audacity." She nudges the sneasel and throws a second pokeball out, revealing an Oddish! The very one from her long quest to get a grass type. Complete with a simple, "Odd!" and a twirl. Then it bows towards the diglett while motes of light form.
In the meantime.. Nina is chanting something and completes the spell with a simple 'Power up!' and blowing into her hands. Buffing everyone up just for overkill. She might be a bit frustrated.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"It's her," says Ida, with a wide smile. Sal trills in delight, and does a loop-de-loop before fluttering around Damian to peer at him from different angles. Silci, though--
"Ree!" Sal chirps, as if to say 'I knew you could do it, kid. Keep it up!' Like most Pokemon, she has a limited vocabulary. She flits down, and gives Silci a pat on the carapace.
"Silci, then," Ida says.
One harrowing moment later, Ida stands by Damian, looking him and Silci over for injuries. (Sal flits about, and gives Silci a firm pat.) "Deep breaths, Damian," Ida says. "Are you all..."
'Diglett Dig Diglett--!'
Ida whirls around. Sal does an acrobatic roll over her Trainer's shoulder, coming to a hovering stop between her and the Diglett. Another rock flies at Sal, but the Butterfree whips to the side, a swift, decisive dodge that's nevertheless a bit hard to follow.
"Sleep Powder, Sal!" Ida shouts. Sal thinks back to her training, and to what she's watched Ida do. Disable the foe, and you'll barely have to fight at all!
"Free~!" Sal trills, and she flits upwards, a shower of shimmering scales falling onto the Diglett. They're laced with a potent sporific. The Diglett might find it hard just to keep its eyes open...!
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Flare Grenade toward her party's challenge, A Wild Diglett. Embolden! Party Combat boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Damian blinks to Nina. "N-no, I met Nami..." He frowns and looks down. "Un-unless sh-she was Nanoha and she was p-pretending to be Nami...?"
Purri just shakes her head and nuzzles Damian some more to distract him.
Damian's all smiles as he looks at Sal up close (okay, there's still some nervousness, but his normal baseline and definitely not anything to do with Sal.) Silci, however, quivers in excitement at Sal's encouragement, flexing her spines just a little bit to sort of hop up and down a little.
Damian is hyperventilating just a touch when Lan sets him down, and looks a little shaken but not harmed. He's clutching Silci tightly in his arms, so she's safe, and he looks up at the second very tall woman who's saved his life recently. (Rille was the first!) "Th-th-th--" He scrunches up his eyes and forces himself to take a deep breath before getting out, "Thank you, M-Miss Lan."
Purri makes her leap, though, and quick as a shot she's up on Damian's shoulder to provide nuzzles, and Damian visibly relaxes after that with a sigh of relief. "G-glad you're okay, Purri..." Ida's encouragment to take deep breaths gets a nod as he does exactly that.
He takes a lot of deep breaths, as it turns out. But he looks up to Ida and nods. "W-w-we're okay."
He's staring at Lan now too, but it's more in admiration than a certain other Nedian. But he does look to Lunatone and offers her a shy smile. "Th-thank you, Lunatone..."
A wild Diglett appears! Damian turns, and it is cute, but--the rocks start to levitate and fly towards them. "S-Silci! Go!" Damian kind of has to do an awkward, shallow underhanded toss to get Silci into battle range, but the silk spikes on her cocoon seem to absorb the impact readily enough.
"P-protect yourself, a-and bring down the rocks with String Shot!"
"Sil sil!" There is a sheen to Silci's body as she strengthens her defenses, and then strings of sticky silk start to spit out towards the rocks, the other end being spat at the ground to anchor them to the ground. "Sil! Sil! Siiiil!"
DG: Damian Tamaoka has used his Tool Pokeball Belt toward his party's challenge, A Wild Diglett. Embolden! Party Combat boosted! DG: Nina Chiyome has used her Tool Deep Mist toward her party's challenge, A Wild Diglett. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round! Liability! Failure will result in extra Exhaustion!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Oh good! Someone who can be a space cadet with Lan! She needs the enrichment. "That's such a cute Pokemon. It evolved, right? Will it do that again?" Lan does kind of get bug Pokemon! She spent a lot of her extremely rural childhood entertaining herself and her cousins, which meant a lot of time spent observing and catching insects among other outdoor activities. That's obviously a bug in a cocoon! Lunatone lowers its eyelids at Damian. He might get the impression that Lunatone is saying 'you're welcome'.
The boost of power settles into Lan's body like a a cup of coffee hitting all at once, and even Lunatone seems to be energized by it. The rocky Pokemon slips in front of Lan with more finesse than something so heavy ought to be able to pull off, and the rocks thrown by the angry Diglett bounce off of or even shatter against a wall of psychic force. Lunatone makes a sound like a stone block being shoved with agonizing slowness across a temple floor (it's a very specific noise, and one a Drifter isn't likely to forget any time soon).
Its reddish-pink eyes glow faintly. Diglett isn't the only Pokemon here that knows Rock Throw, and Lunatone returns the favor with a hail of stones.
Lan, meanwhile, squints at the shimmering powder that Catastrophe Sal spreads towards the Diglett. She'll just... back up a couple of steps.
(Lan may have gotten Sleep Powdered a few times in Viridian Forest before she figured out why she kept waking up in the tall grass.)
DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Wild Diglett.
==============================<* Diglett's Cave *>==============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - A Wild Diglett *>========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
As you walk through Diglett's Cave, the ground ahead of you rumbles...
...and a Diglett bursts out! It is a short, round-headed, cylindrical
Pokemon with fur, black eyes, and a round pink nose that erupts from the
ground. It opens its mouth and bellows a challenge at you. Then, several
rocks pick up off the ground, and launch themselves at you!
This Diglett wants to do battle!
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!, |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, and Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
==============================<* Diglett's Cave *>==============================
=====================< Results - Diglett's Cave - Round 3 >=====================
=========================< CHALLENGE - A Wild Diglett >=========================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Damian Tamaoka 5 --(5)--> 10 Best
Pokeball Belt Min Combat Effects: Embolden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lan Lilac 5 --(5)--> 10 Best
Fight Bsc Combat Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ida Everstead-Rey 5 --(5)--> 10 Best
Flare Grenade Min Combat Effects: Embolden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nina Chiyome 5 --(5)--> 10 Best
Deep Mist Min Combat Effects: Cleanse and
Liability
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leader: Damian Tamaoka 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass
Conditions: Injure(1) and Wound(2)
Effects: Cleanse and Embolden(1)
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
DG: The party led by Damian Tamaoka has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Nina Chiyome has posed.
With a tilt of her head she taps her chin, "About this tall. Looks a lot like me?" Though Damian looking so put out does get her to sigh, "You're worrying too much. We're used to getting confused." She doesn't answer though.
Another rock zips past and she shouts, "STOP THAT" at the pokemon who's currently being pummeled and doused in powder. It gives one feeble little angry eyebrow wobble then plants face down snoring. Surrounded by stringed up rocks that didn't seem to hurt it too too much in a severe way. Probably had some sense knocked out of it though which definitely helped with the sleep powder too!. Someone might be able to throw a pokeball at the diglett. The oddish's attack was felt, but absorb really isn't that flashy is it? The Oddish looks pleased though!
Nina sleight of hands a spare pokeball up and bounces it around a few times before throwing it at the dazed pokemon. Scratching her cheek as the ball wobbles, "What was the guy from that one anime with the increasingly goofy eyebrows. That'll be a good name." She's tapping her foot too, clearly trying to think on it.
Still, she turns on her heel as the ball clicks behind her and she checks on the others, leaning forward to get a better look, "No one got brained right?" The sneasel pokes her, "No one was hurt right?" Close enough.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Diglett's Cave *>==============================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Repairing the Terraformer *>===================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
As you walk down a pathway, you spot a section where terraforming equipment
is stored. This is behind a large steel door, built into the wall -- though
there is some rock covering the door so it can seamlessly close when needed,
to preserve an illusion of a natural cave. The door is open, for the moment,
and two Nedians with hard hats and hardened ear-coverings (those pointed
ears can be a hazard, sometimes) are working.
"Hey!" one calls out. "Can you give us a hand? Some equipment
short-circuited and we need to change it out!"
The help they need is fairly technical. The inside of the room has multiple
pieces of advanced machinery, with several parts to be replaced. Each is
covered in Symbols; a perfect melding of Symbology and technology. They call
out instructions, and those instructions need to be followed carefully.
Doing so, though, will help maintain Nede's terraforming operations for
generations to come.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Embolden:_Combat_Up! and Stupify:_Wits_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
DIGLETT was caught!!
"Congratulations," Ida says, turning to Nina. "We're fine." Sal waves a tiny Butterfree hand, for lack of ability to flash the 'OK' signal.
Past the territorial Diglett is a stretch of cave that looks... completely like any other in this complex, save for a faint shimmering light in the air, the bright green used to signify a warded rest zone. There's a barrier here, built to keep out wild Pokemon. But rather than a Symbological rest stop, this barrier rests in front of a blank wall.
"Ah," says Ida, "this must be the place." She reaches out, and knocks on the rock.
Light shines out of Ida's backpack. "Ree," Sal says, peering inside in wonder. More Symbols ignite on the door, along with the logo of the Kanto Department of Environmental Stabilization and Terraforming. It slides open.
Inside, a pair of Nedian techs are hard at work, having opened the cover on some sort of complex grid-like array full of long, thin rods. Each rod is marked with Symbols; one of the techs is sliding and adjusting the rods, putting some Symbols closer or further away to make new, complex patterns.
The other notices the open door, and waves the group in. Ida pulls the package out of her back, and presents it.
"Good," says the tech, nodding her head. "It's in one piece. Digletts didn't give you any trouble, did they?"
"A little," Ida says, "But Nina, there, came away with a new partner."
"Congratulations!" says the tech.
A familiar shape pokes out of a maintainence hatch: a Dugtrio. All three of its heads are wearing safety hats and goggles. "Trio, Trio, Trio!" it chirps, as the tech opens the box, and passes a few chunks of carved crystal its way.
"Get these to the usual place, would you, Girls?"
"Trio!"
"As for you guys, we're a little short-staffed. If you can help us out with a few things, we'll be sure to chip a little extra FOL in from the department fund...?" The tech looks a little ragged. There are dark circles under her eyes. She may in fact be running on Chesto Berry energy drink and determination.
Thankfully, the actual job is fairly straightforward. Remove old, damaged rods, replace them with new ones. Turn them just so. Remove crystalline buildup from a condenser. Check and report on the water level in the Symbological meta-hygrometer.
Ida gets right to work. Her tools are... quaint, by Nedian standards, but they're perfectly functional!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"What's anime?" Lan wonders vaguely, but she's more interested in watching the Pokeball rock. It clicks shut with the Diglett safely inside, and she lets out a cheer. "Yeah! Get caught!" Become a contributing member of society and a good friend to Nina and her Sneasel!
Lan makes a beckoning motion to Lunatone, who floats over to settle comfortably (comfortable for Lunatone, anyway) into Lan's arms. It may be small for its species, but it's still a little bit large to be a comfortable thing to carry; Lan seems used to it, because she's not letting go yet. It's probably helping her out with its Levitate ability.
"Oh, is this the place you're delivering to?" Lan asks, right before Ida hands over the package. Aha! She was right. And it's always fun to see people working and living alongside their Pokemon. The Dugtrio even has (have?) little hardhats to keep them safer. "Oh, I can help!" Lan volunteers. Sure it's not something she has a ton of experience in, but Lan is more than familiar with Symbology and most of its sigils, even if she doesn't have a single one of her own.
But just to be certain, she's got that oracle paper back out again, occasionally consulting it instead of the proper documentation...
But the sigils get turned and aligned, so that's got to be worth something, right?
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Paku-Paku toward her party's challenge, Repairing the Terraformer. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Damian smiles as Lan identifies a cute pokemon in Silcoon. "Th-thanks!" And Silci lets out a suddenly much more shy but still appreciative, "Siiil..." But as to evolving again, Damian nods eagerly. "Uh huh! Sh-she's gonna become a Beautifly!" Damian pulls out his phone and shows a picture of one from the PokeSnap app to Lan.
"O-oh! Anime is amazing! Th-there's all kinds of shows, a-and they have cool animation, a-and some have really cute character designs, a-and..." He's fumbling for his phone one-handed, tapping at it to bring up an AMV set to some pop song with a bunch clips from magical girl shows. "S-someone made a video with a b-bunch of my favorite shows!"
He kind of gets that Nina is messing with him, and he looks down. "I-I j-just want to make sure th-that I call you all by the r-right names... I-it's important, wh-when you know someone who looks like other people..." He could never misidentify his friend Joy for that reason.
There is a sigh of relief, and Damian shakes his head. "I-I'm fine... P-poor Diglet, I know he attacked us first, b-but four on one isn't fair..." But he steps forward to pick up Silci, (carefully) giving her a hug. "Y-you did great, Silci!"
Ida goes to knock on a wall, and Damian squints at it, but then lights up as he recognizes the department logo. "O-oh! P-Purri, Silci! Th-this should be cool!" He follows Ida in, apparently not concerned with walking into a secure work area.
Trainers are just... kind of used to going wherever, after all.
Damian waves to The Girls when they appear and take the crystal to... wherever it's destined for. Then he looks back as the tech asks for help. "Sh-sure!"
Damian gets his phone out, using a variety of apps to help with the various tasks. He can both identify the old rods needing replacement and measure the degree of rotation for the new ones, make sure the condenser is clean, and record down the measurements from the meta-hygrometer to report back all at once.
DG: Damian Tamaoka has used his Tool Smartphone toward his party's challenge, Repairing the Terraformer. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Nina Chiyome has posed.
Nina holds up the pokeball and then.. it's whisked away. "I'll fish him out later when I can name him. We have more important things to look up and do after all!
Lan's question gets her attention and she once again falls into the question of how to recommend anime to the newbies. The last time she recommended.. well. She likes them, but probably shows that shouldn't have been recommended to newbies. "Cartoons. Lots of different types out there. Uh-" She starts, trying to think of how to describe it. "You guys have TV at least?" That might be a good start.
Nina's attention is pulled though since she's morbidly curious what Damian's into. "Those are probably safer than my recommendations honestly." She admits. "Might.. not be her thing though?" She's not sure. Shrug.
Damian complaining of a fair fight DOES get a snort out of the ninja though. "Fair fights are for suckers. It's fun getting the drop on someone." She glances over and adds, "Besides, that group running around causing problems fights dirty too. So hit'em in the back of the head and call it good!" Nina's clearly a pragmatist.
Nina holds a hand up when she's called out for having caught Eyebrows. "He was feisty for some reason. Also had-" she holds her hands up to mimic the eyebrows, "Really noticeable features."
She also gives the peace sign back to the butterfree. Because it's cute. Then there's the mention of delivery and help. "Yeah I got it I got it." She holds her hand up. Offering to follow orders as needed. Putting gloves on and actually showing some technical knowhow. She just doesn't get to show off her nerdery often enough.
DG: Nina Chiyome has used her Tool Tagging Kit toward her party's challenge, Repairing the Terraformer. Rally! DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool ARMs Meister's Field Kit toward her party's challenge, Repairing the Terraformer. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
==============================<* Diglett's Cave *>==============================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Repairing the Terraformer *>===================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
As you walk down a pathway, you spot a section where terraforming equipment
is stored. This is behind a large steel door, built into the wall -- though
there is some rock covering the door so it can seamlessly close when needed,
to preserve an illusion of a natural cave. The door is open, for the moment,
and two Nedians with hard hats and hardened ear-coverings (those pointed
ears can be a hazard, sometimes) are working.
"Hey!" one calls out. "Can you give us a hand? Some equipment
short-circuited and we need to change it out!"
The help they need is fairly technical. The inside of the room has multiple
pieces of advanced machinery, with several parts to be replaced. Each is
covered in Symbols; a perfect melding of Symbology and technology. They call
out instructions, and those instructions need to be followed carefully.
Doing so, though, will help maintain Nede's terraforming operations for
generations to come.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and Stupify:_Wits_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
==============================<* Diglett's Cave *>============================== =====================< Results - Diglett's Cave - Round 4 >===================== ===================< CHALLENGE - Repairing the Terraformer >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Damian Tamaoka 10 --(5)--> 15 Best Smartphone Min Wits Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 10 --(5)--> 15 Best Paku-Paku Min Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 10 --(13)--> 23 Bad ARMs Meister's Field Kit Min Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nina Chiyome 10 --(5)--> 15 Best Tagging Kit Maj Wits Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Damian Tamaoka 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Stupify(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) and Resilient(1) = Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
DG: The party led by Damian Tamaoka has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The crew were expecting a delivery. The box Ida was carrying had a special Symbological tag on it, designed to activate and act as a key when she knocked on the door. Still trusting, yes, given this equipment keeps Nede a livable habitat, and not the airless void-scorched rock it should be. But... even Team Rocket wouldn't try to sabotage this equipment. Would they?
"Free!" says Sal, pumping a tiny fist in agreement with Nina's combat philosophy, or perhaps her emphasis on strategy. (More the latter. Sal is a rough-and-tumble sort, when she feels like it, but she's not a cheater.)
The work goes without a hitch, mostly. Damien replaces the rods, and takes the readings, while Lan ensures everything is in the right order. About ten minutes into the work, The Girls reemerge from their Pokemon-sized maintainence hatch, and their trainer gives Nina instructions to fish out another crystal to give to them. (She handles it easily, thanks to her smarts!)
The one minor issue comes into play when Ida starts dealing with the crystalline buildup. It's literally forming as quickly as she can scrape it off, and she wastes about five minutes trying to out-stubborn it before asking for help. Once provided with the correct tool, a Symbologically-imbued file, her work goes much quicker.
The tech mops her brow, and leans against the cave wall as the Girls nibble delicately on a trio of Poke Puffs. "I'm glad you guys could help," she says. "It would've taken us hours to do all that." But with that done, there's still the matter of leaving the cave.
DG: Damian Tamaoka has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Diglett's Cave *>==============================
=================<* CHALLENGE - War Comes to a Peaceful Land *>=================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You enter a particularly large cavernous room inside of Diglett's Cave.
There are multiple levels, where the Digletts have carved out terraces;
there is also a corner where the underground river flows through it.
Boulders, stalagmites, and loose rock form obstacles across it.
And this room is a battlefield.
On the one side, a Dugtrio -- a Pokemon that looks like three Digletts,
together -- commands an army of Digletts, which send rocks and stone raining
down. On the other, an army of Wigletts, a Wugtrio in charge, are sending
blasts of water their way. They are locked in a fierce melee for the future
of Diglett's Cave.
Will you pick a side? Or will you stop this conflict through... armed
intervention?
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7FwvYx8tN0
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, |
| Stupify:_Wits_Down!, and Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Nina suggests that magical girls might not be Lan's thing. "O-oh, I know, b-but I had that one favorited, s-so it was easy to get to..." He looks to Lan again. "B-but there's lots of different kinds!"
Damian blinks as Nina mentions 'that group' causing problems. "Wh-what group...? Y-you mean the Ten Wise Men...?" he frowns and bites his lip. "Th-that doesn't sound fair, either..." Okay, Damian's kind of a softy, it's true.
His share of the tasks go smoothly, as do Lan's and Nina's. Ida has some difficulty, but eventually manages to get it. Purri and Silci supervised throughout the process. (Okay, Silci was resting from her encounter and Purri wasn't directly helping... but that was fine, because Damian is actually enjoying the work.) "Y-you're welcome!" Damian declares cheerfully, as the techs thank them for the help. He accepts the FOL but would've done it even without that, probably.
Purri is back on his shoulder and Silci in his arms as they leave, and Damian is in pretty good spirits, happily showing off more anime to Lan or Ida if they're interested. (Weirdly, he seems to prefer shows with female leads rather than any of the male-led shows. Go figure.)
But all that comes down to a halt as they stumble into a massive battlefield. It would be beautiful and impressive, with all of the terraces, multiple levels, and a river and everything... except right now it's all being destroyed by rocks and streams of water being slung about.
If they don't act fast there won't be much left of this grand cavern. "Y-you shouldn't be fighting like this..." he utters quietly, slipping into a little bit of despair... He looks down to Silci, and then to Purri, both of whom give him an encouraging noise or two.
He nods. He tosses out Silci again, gently. "Silci, go! Use string shot to make a web!" Silci starts firing out long strings, trying to criss cross them to make a web, making little hops forward and backwards to change her angle, (or using more string to drag herself along, even.)
"Purri! Knock some sense into that Wugtrio!" Damian points, and Purri lets out a loud "Purr!" as she leaps off and charges for the Wugtrio. (The very observant can see that her claws are painted a light, sparkly purple as she slashes at the leader of the water side.)
Damian tosses out a pokeball. "Pixi! Get that Dugtrio to back down." "Vul!" comes the acknolwedgement as she darts off for the ground side of the war, using quick attack to dodge the rocks (and water!) before unleashing blue flames from her tails at the Dugtrio.
DG: Damian Tamaoka has used his Tool Pokeball Belt toward his party's challenge, War Comes to a Peaceful Land. Embolden! Party Combat boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Beautifly... "Wow, they named it right," Lan considers cheerfully, leaning in to gaze at the picture. Lucky Silci!! "You're gonna be so pretty! Well, a different kind of pretty. You're already cute," she hurries to reassure Damian's Silcoon.
Joke's on Nina; Lan would absolutely adore magical girls. The short clip on Damian's phone already impressed her. It's extremely sparkly. "I've seen television!" She'd first glimpsed one at... she thinks it was Damzen base. And later, after the Photosphere battle, in Loren's house in the First Class quarter of Etrenank. And there were those 'hologram' things advertising whatever, too, out in the shopping district. She got stared at for staring too long at one, before he noticed and hurried her along. "What's this one with all the hearts and stars and singing? Maybe I can try to watch it." They have television in Pokecenters and everything...!
They come upon an epic scene. A battle for the ages! ...One that's not only stopping them from proceeding, but also threatening to wreck one of the most beautiful natural formations Lan has seen in a very, very long time. "What... are those things," Lan grimaces a little bit, staring at the Wigletts. They look like weird ghost worms! They're super not okay-looking!
But that's not important right now. Damian's right! "Come on Ida, can't let the kids show us up, right?" She sinks into the familiar comfort of cheerful bravado, and tosses the Lunatone gently towards the chaos. "C'mon, Lunatone! We've got to stop them from wrecking the place!"
Lunatone rattles as it sends blasts of psychic energy through some of the closest enemy Pokemon. Lan, on the other hand, gives a cheerful whoop before jumping into the fight heel-first. Someone may need to rescue her.
...Or maybe not?
DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, War Comes to a Peaceful Land.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida takes little glances at Damian's phone, but doesn't take her eyes off the terrain for more than a second at best. Diglett's Cave is well-travelled, but even it has curveballs to throw. Case in point: the distant sounds of crashing rock, rushing water, and furious battlecries of "Diglett Dig Diglett!" and "Wiglett Wig Wiglett!"
"...What the devil," says Ida, as the group emerges right into a Pokemon turf war. She stares, mouth slightly open, as the chaos unfolds. But she finds her eye drawn to a pair of Pokemon huddling off to one side.
"Wiglett," says the Wiglett of the duo, obviously distressed. "Wiglett! Wig Wiglett! Wiglett!" None of the other Wigletts can hear it over the bellowing of the Wugtrio.
"Diglett Dig Diglett Dig! Diglett!" shouts the Diglett next to them, before slumping over against the Wiglett, seemingly defeated. Distressed?! Horrified that this has turned into all-out war between Digletts and Wigletts, both of whom have a right to exist, free and safe, on Energy Nede?
"...Hah," Ida says, her lips twisting in a sad, knowing smile at the sight of these two. "You're right, Lan. Let's shut this down. Everyone, cover your eyes!" Ida pulls something roughly Pokeball-sized from her belt, and lights a cotton fuse(?!) sticking out from the side. She hurls the flare softball-style, where it detonates, momentarily illuminating the cavern with a bright, disorienting flash! (Thankfully, there is no boom accompanying it. Just the noise. Pokemon, Ida feels, needed a gentler touch, and she hasn't forgotten how Purri reacted last time.)
Sal, meanwhile, lets out a trilling noise that echoes through the cavern, and takes to the air like the ace she is.
"BUTTERFREE!!"
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsBArUlQAuE&ab_channel=KenjiKawai-Topic
Glittering scales fall from her wings as she bobs and weaves between hurled rocks and blasts of water. Before long, the whole battlefield is coated in glittering, soporific dust. It looks beautiful.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Flare Grenade toward her party's challenge, War Comes to a Peaceful Land. Embolden! Party Combat boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Nina Chiyome has posed.
Nina Chiyome claps her hands and grins, "See I can link one of my favorites, but I don't watch a lot of them." That she watches any is at least some nerd cred surely. Fiddling with her phone, she holds it out. It's probably no surprise she listens to punk of any stripe really.
As for Nina's preference in anime. She likes weird, mind bend-y or philosophical. Don't worry about it.
She does shrug when Lan seems really into the sparklies though. "Wouldn't have guessed." She admits. Then she gets an impish grin, "Hey Damian, you should show her that one with the little fuzzy mascot talking about entropy." Maybe don't take advice from Nina on newbie anime.
As for Ida's response, she gestures with a thumb, "One for two maybe?" She shrugs. Then pauses at the exclamation. Then frowns. "Yeah I'm done." She admits flatly. She claps her hands together and while the butterfree is putting them to sleep, she's helping. Sort of. The chanting is ended with a simple clap of her hands and mist begins to billow out. Obscuring everything. Making it hard to hide and hard to fight!
DG: Nina Chiyome has used her Tool Deep Mist toward her party's challenge, War Comes to a Peaceful Land. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round! Liability! Failure will result in extra Exhaustion!
==============================<* Diglett's Cave *>==============================
=================<* CHALLENGE - War Comes to a Peaceful Land *>=================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You enter a particularly large cavernous room inside of Diglett's Cave.
There are multiple levels, where the Digletts have carved out terraces;
there is also a corner where the underground river flows through it.
Boulders, stalagmites, and loose rock form obstacles across it.
And this room is a battlefield.
On the one side, a Dugtrio -- a Pokemon that looks like three Digletts,
together -- commands an army of Digletts, which send rocks and stone raining
down. On the other, an army of Wigletts, a Wugtrio in charge, are sending
blasts of water their way. They are locked in a fierce melee for the future
of Diglett's Cave.
Will you pick a side? Or will you stop this conflict through... armed
intervention?
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7FwvYx8tN0
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!, |
| Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Stupify:_Wits_Down!, and Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
==============================<* Diglett's Cave *>==============================
=====================< Results - Diglett's Cave - Round 5 >=====================
==================< CHALLENGE - War Comes to a Peaceful Land >==================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Damian Tamaoka 15 --(0)--> 15 Good
Pokeball Belt Min Combat Effects: Embolden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lan Lilac 15 --(0)--> 15 Good
Fight Bsc Combat Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ida Everstead-Rey 23 --(0)--> 23 Best
Flare Grenade Min Combat Effects: Embolden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nina Chiyome 15 --(0)--> 15 Good
Deep Mist Min Combat Effects: Cleanse and
Liability
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leader: Damian Tamaoka 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass
Conditions: Fright(2), Injure(2), Stupify(1), and Wound(2)
Effects: Cleanse and Embolden(1)
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Damian Tamaoka has successfully explored Diglett's Cave!
==============================<* Diglett's Cave *>==============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Stabilization Symbol *>=====================
| Type: Discovery | Dungeon Ability: Conclusion | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You've come to the exit to Diglett's Cave, just before your destination.
Ahead, sunlight shines down; you won't have much longer to go before you can
rest.
As you approach the exit, you notice a metal disc on the floor. There are
multiple Symbols on it. This is a Stabilization Symbol, a piece of Nedian
technology that can make time move slower in a small field around it. It's
used by work crews to help save lives and make repairs during cave-ins and
other disasters. You can return it to the Nedian authorities or, perhaps,
make use of it yourself.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!, |
| Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Stupify:_Wits_Down!, Treasure:_Exploration_Up!, and Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
"Y-yeah! She's g-gonna be really pretty when she evolves, too!" But Damian likes Silci as she is right now, too, and is still doing his best to care for her cocooned form, just like he did when she was a Wurmple.
Damian is very happy to show Lan more shows, talking about their similarities and differences. "O-oh, this one with the singing is a-also part idol anime, i-it's called Rune Heart Idol, and it's about..."
He frowns at Nina a little. "O-oh! That one's really good, but... m-maybe not for her first show...? I-it's kind of a deconstruction, and you sh-should at least watch a normal one, first...?"
He will go on for a while, apparently.
Silci puts up some barriers that help reduce the amoung of fire reaching between the two sides, which provides further opportunities to the other pokemon (and one Trainer) to get in there and take more action.
But Damian tosses his pokemon into action, and Lan does too, but also dives in feet first. Damian stares. "U-um, you're not... supposed to fight them... yourself?" He looks to Ida with a look that says 'Is this okay???'
But Lunatone's psychic powers are very effective, and her psychic blasts create openings in the fire that Sal can take advantage of a moment later to get in through the fighting and deliver her payloud.
Damian shouts out, "P-Purri! P-Pixi! Silci! E-eyes and ears!" She's seen this before, and they're seen it before, so they know what to expect this time. They momentarily cover their ears and close their eyes at Damian's mark, then resume their efforts. (Purri was fine last time, she's just got extra sensitive vision and hearing because cats.)
The masses of the fighting armies are all momentarily stunned, and that gives Sal an opportunity to dive in, sprinkling glittering dust over the battlefield to help quell the fighting even further. Also helping is Nina's mists, which help provide additional cover for Sal as she's dousing the battlefield, even if some start to recover from the flashbang faster than she can dose them.
Bereft of their armies, Dugtrio and Wugtrio are stymied in their war efforts, and Purri and Pixi are able to stare them both down. Damian seems to have found a voice for the moment, storming up to the middle of the room and looking at the two leaders. "L-l-look at the m-mess y-you've made! Th-this p-place w-was really nice, and b-big, and you two c-could have shared, b-but look at it now!"
Damian actually looks mad for once as he glares at the two. "Y-you should be ashamed of yourselves."
Wugtrio and Dugtrio both try to shrink back into the water and ground, respectively, but Pixi and Purri don't let up wth their intimidating stares.
"I-I want you to be nice, a-and clean this place u-up. Y-you should be setting a g-good example," He points to the Wiglet and Diglet together on the side. "S-see, you made them so up-upset."
After a thorough tounge lashing, Damian gathers his pokemon and leaves the two bashful leaders behind as their armies start to stir, with stern instructions on what not to do.
Outside Damian stops and picks up a disc, looking it over. "O-oh, m-maybe this belongs to the research t-team. We should t-take it back..." He glances backwards.
They'd have to go all the way back through the cave again, though....