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Old 07-22-2012, 10:57 AM   #76
Meetan
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Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
The Labyrinth of Koros
Meetan: You look desperately around the room, hopeful for clues on how to proceed, when suddenly you notice something strange. There are stone channels in the ground all around the statue. Some of these channels, the ones along the perimeter, are filled with water pouring forth from the small waterfalls all around you. But others of them, like the four linear channels which seem to lead from the circle towards the statue, are dried up. You wonder ...

"I'm sorry, Bagon, but I need you again," you say as you take the dragon Pokémon's PokeBall and summon him before you. The little guy is still exhausted: it's been a little less than an hour since you just had him issue not one, not two, but three Hydro Pumps, and the poor thing is doubled over, hands on knees, panting heavily. "We don't have much time," you tell him. "Please use your Hydro Pump to fill these up with water. If nothing happens ... then fire at that blue thing, like at the door." Still panting, Bagon cocks his head up towards you as if to say "Are you kidding me!?" and then returns his gaze to the floor, breathingly sharply. You knew it was probably too much to ask of the little dragon Pokemon but what else can you do? You feel as though you've tried everything else. And now that you've noticed the absence of water from these four linear channels leading towards the statue, you feel certain that you're on the right track.

Bagon opens his mouth wide, makes to issue forth his fourth Hydro Pump of the day, ... and nothing comes out. The little guy is tuckered and it'll be a while before he can issue another powerful Water-based attack like this. Had he been a Water-type, maybe; and surely he could carry on for his trainer if it was something within his grasp; but the dragon is still young and inexperienced, and four Hydro Pumps in one hour is simply too much for most Pokémon to handle, let alone a tiny Bagon. He looks up at you as if to say, "I tried," before falling down onto his butt, his hands pressing down on the ground at his sides, keeping him from falling down. You were afraid this would be the outcome, and it was. What now?

While this is happening, Torchic hops into one of the dried-up channels and starts pecking at something.

What do you do?

Pokémon in the area:
none

FFA Inventory:
x1 parchment


OoC: Strictly speaking, you needed to examine the ground first. I provided the picture to help clue you in to this without making it so obvious (by detailing it in text form) that it would be patronizing or take the fun of exploration away from you, but textually your character had yet to even examine the channels on the ground until just now. That's great that you had her examine them (and it's what I wanted you to have her do), but you really shouldn't declare that they're dried-up channels (which they were, thankfully ^^; ) until I've said so. What if they hadn't been? What if in my crappy paint drawing those had been artistic patterns in the floor? Or steel beams inlaid in stone waiting to be electrified? We'd be butting heads again over what is and isn't present in your environment. I was hoping/expecting you to simply ask to examine the ground this time and then next time you'd try to interact with it once I'd explained to you what you were looking at. That you went ahead and tried something immediately on it I don't mind this time since you were right anyway, but keep this in mind going forward. Anyway, all's well that ends well. Though that poor Bagon ... ^^; (I should note, you're free to summon him again, so don't take how I've updated you here wrongly and think "Okay he's telling me to never ever summon Bagon again" ... but I think he needs at least some rest or rejuvenation one way or another. And I wouldn't expect any more Hydro Pumps out of him without something like a day's rest or some other means for restoring energy.)
((Alrighty, sorry about that. I guess I just took your artistic abilities for granted there. ^^; At least you know you can do decent art on paint, yes? xDD;; And agreed - my poor Bagon!))

Alice bit her lip, cringing at Bagon's look. He had a serious nature, and she was honestly surprised that they got along at all, considering her inability to be that way most of the time. "It's alright, honey, don't worry about it. We'll find some other way around it." She assured him, picking him up under his shoulders and bringing the heavy lump close, kissing his nose and rubbing his back. "Thank you so much. You've been brilliant."

It was then that she noticed Torchic's pecking. It could just as easily have been random behaviour, but just incase it wasn't, Alice moved closer and leaned down a bit, careful not to topple with Bagon's weight. "What is it, Torchic? Did you find something? Please say you have. Honestly. Really, though." She added, and the dragon type glanced at his owner's desperation with a look of slight judgement. After all, Alice had yet to even fill him in on whatever tragedy it was she had found herself in this time!

((Stats.))
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Old 07-22-2012, 06:07 PM   #77
Talon87
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The Labyrinth of Koros
Meetan: You lean down to see what Torchic is pecking at. It appears to be some sort of ceramic tile. On one side of the tile is the circular channel filled with water; on the other side is Torchic who is pecking at the tile inquisitively. You quickly glance around and notice similar tiles in each of the other dried-up channels. Could this be ...?

What do you do?

Pokémon in the area:
none

FFA Inventory:
x1 parchment


The Tale of the Wishmakers:
lilbluecorsola:
latest update here
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Old 07-22-2012, 06:56 PM   #78
Meetan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
The Labyrinth of Koros
Meetan: You lean down to see what Torchic is pecking at. It appears to be some sort of ceramic tile. On one side of the tile is the circular channel filled with water; on the other side is Torchic who is pecking at the tile inquisitively. You quickly glance around and notice similar tiles in each of the other dried-up channels. Could this be ...?

What do you do?

Pokémon in the area:
none

FFA Inventory:
x1 parchment
Alice's heart leapt at Torchic's discovery. Could this be what was stopping the flow of water? "Torchic, do you think you could use an attack like Strength or Night Slash to break this tile? I think it's what's stopping the water from getting through here!" She explained, hurrying over to another one. Maybe they were weak enough even for her to get at? Examining her hand closely, she grimaced. "If I survive this, Bagon, I'm getting my nails redone at the Fizzy Bubbles Shops." She said offhandedly, yet another triviality to keep her mind at ease. Bagon snorted. Their survival depended on this?

((Stats.))
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Old 07-24-2012, 05:51 AM   #79
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Charlotte looked up from the map she was clutching in her hands. The bright lights of the city stared back at her, the skyscrapers looming over her like friendly-looking totems, the screech and honk of the cars embracing her. Unlike the norm, she actually felt at home in the massive metropolis, and though the city may have been a polluted wasteland to some, it was paradise for her. Of course, the fact that she came from a megacity herself contributed to this, but it was still an unusual thing to feel that way.

"So, Flare," Charlotte said, "where do you think we ought to go?"

Flare sighed in response, and shook her head. "What do you mean, we should just get out of here?" Charlotte said crossly. "It's a wonderful place to be... so much to do... so much to see... Come on, let's go... this way!"

Flare wondered just what she had done to end up with such a weird girl as Charlotte zoomed through the streets, the worried Flare clutched by her chest.
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Old 07-24-2012, 04:42 PM   #80
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
Welcome aboard, Yuki! As you already know, we'll be replying in FFFF99 yellow for this adventure. Please be sure to provide a link to your registration post. Thanks!

The Tale of the Wishmakers:
lilbluecorsola:
As the Darumakka come barreling towards you and Kief, you order him to use Sand-Attack to slow your pursuers down. Kief turns around, digs his heels into the dirt, and starts scraping backwards at a blistering pace. Soon there is a pale cloud of dirt in the air and the Darumakka are clawing at their eyes, trying to get the fine particulates out. Then when they can't see you order Kief to use Icy Wind, hoping that it might slow them down. You're none too sure about the efficacy of the attack seeing as the Darumakka hardly seem to notice it at all but you're at least relieved to see that they're still clawing away at their eyes in desperate attempts to get that sand out. In fact, if there's one thing the Icy Wind did do, it's stir up the cloud of dirt even worse than before. It's now like a miniature sandstorm inside the alley and the two Darumakka are caught in the thick of it. From the other side of the dust cloud you hear one of the guards shout, "AFTER THEM, YOU FOOLS!" One of two Darumakka ignores his orders, the sand being simply too much to be ignored, and he continues to try and rub it out of his teary eyes; but the other bares his eyes wide-open, red and itchy, and makes to pursue you and Kief. That's when you order Kief to make a substitute. The mischievous raccoon-dog grins, a twinkle in his eye, and with a poof of smoke there are suddenly two Kiefs! One of the Kiefs runs over to you while the remaining Kief stays put, ready to meet the Darumakka charging towards him. The two tussle about, stirring up even more smoky sand. The narrow passageway doesn't allow the guards to give chase, their own Darumakka blocking the way. "YOU IDIOTS!" the guard in front bellows. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" he shouts to the first Darumakka, still bouncing left and right in the alley as he tries to get the last bits of sand out of his eyes. "THAT IS NOT THEM!" he shouts to the other, "THAT IS JUST A SUBSTITUTE!" But the Darumakka wrestling with the fake Kief doesn't seem to take heed of his master's advice: he can't possibly know that this Kief is a fake. Not until he's worn it down anyway! Smiling to yourself, you shout back some thanks for the bread and make your escape out the back of the alley, Kief scampering along close behind. Unable to pursue you, the guards curse and trundle out the other end of the alley.

You've lost them for now, you realize, but they could be back any second. You and Kief have to get out of here fast. You make your way out the other end of the alley and find yourself back on what appears to be a main street. Judging from the looks of things, you're still in the merchant district: you see shopkeepers selling their wares of every kind behind a number of colorful stalls. One vendor, a bearded man with dark tanned skin and an immaculately white turban, is selling exotic fruits and berries. Another man, clean-shaven and less tan, is selling fresh fish. There is a snakecharmer on the street playing a flute while an Ekans rises out of a wicker basket. Some of the children laugh and point at this show; others run wildly through the street playing tag. You see one of the girls run towards a shop, one of the many buildings which form the "walls" of this street, but the others shout out to her that she's breaking the rules. As she frantically tries to dodge the boy who's "it," they both barely avoid crashing into a woman who is coming out the shop door, unable to see the children beneath the bundles of fabric she is holding to tightly in her hands. They avoid her just in the nick of time: unfortunately for the little girl, the boy takes this opportunity to tag her. "YOU'RE IT!" he shouts with glee as he runs away from her. Frowning, she chases after him and the others, clearly upset at having become "It."

As you begin to walk down the street with Kief, the little rascal licking some scrumptious crumbs of bread off the corners of his mouth, you notice that some of the women and children are looking in your general direction. The women hide furtive glances and chatter behind their veiled faces guarded by their long sleeves. The children are less preoccupied with subtlety: many of them point and laugh at you. Uh-oh, you realize as you look down at yourself ...

What will you do?

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none

FFA Inventory:
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OoC – Link to registration in sig.

A cunning grin crossed Kief’s crumb-covered face, as he conspired to turn and kick up a cloud of dust in the Darumaka’s faces. The round red… Things coughed and clawed, trying desperately to rid the grains clogging their eyes. Kief wasn’t done yet, as a storm of snow soon followed. Jess couldn’t be sure it slowed their pursuers down any, since they were currently too occupied with cleaning the grime from their vision to move a step forward. However, it did serve to stir up the sand more, building into a powdered blizzard that nearly blew the balls off their feet. Watching them bounce about blindly, Jessica could barely contain a smirk as she edged towards the escape.

However, from across the cloud came a booming "AFTER THEM, YOU FOOLS!" While one of the creatures ignored the orders in favor of expunging further filth, the other grit its teeth and forced its gaze open, ignoring the grit that then flew into its face as it charged. The swollen red sockets now resembled their surroundings.

Kief was prepared for this though, and with a wink and a wiggle of his nose a double suddenly appeared before him, wagging its tail in time to the original. Just as planned, the Darumaka mistook the duplicate for Kief and hurtled straight into it, rolling around with the doll in the dirt. Their tumble excited the earth even more, choking the inflamed passageway tighter. Jessica could hear the guards shouting at their dumb duo to either move out of the way or see past the deception, but the poor creatures paid no heed. The girl and her devious raccoon shared a sly smile as they bowed out, leaving the doppelganger to deal with the rest. At this point, Jessica figured a cocky cartoon crook would provide a parting insult. So emboldened she was by their success that she tried some cheesy cheeky sarcasm of her own:

“Thanks a lot for the bread!”

She called back, before bolting as fast as her legs would carry her, literally leaving her enemies behind in the dust. Kief scurried after her, licking the last of said bread from his face. Maybe it was a result of the adrenaline, but Jessica could swear she sensed laughter bubbling up within her. She felt strong, unstoppable. If this were really a dream, then it would mean her actions would have no consequences. What was to prevent her from robbing the entire city blind? Nothing, she knew she could get away with it. Her eyes lit upon the closest vendor, and the delicious fruits sitting in his cart, ripe for picking. Temptation. Before she understood what was happening, her hand reached out, as if hypnotized. She was sick of trying to be good, to please others anyway. She wasn’t pure, and she knew it. The empty space around her heart ached…

“TAG! YOU’RE IT!”

A little girl ran before her, blocking her view of the tantalizing target. For a moment, she almost looked familiar. A boy followed after, severing the spell. It broke, or perhaps she did. She couldn’t tell. She watched them go, nearly bumping into a woman carrying bolts of fabric. They didn’t care, merely continued with the game. The boy gleefully stretched out his hand, touched the girl, and declared she was now “It”. “It” pouted as the others fled, and pursued.

Their actions seemed strange to Jessica, far away. Why were they chasing something when they’d already found it? Why run from “It”?

She touched the place above her breast. There was nothing there, she had lost it long ago. But it should still be somewhere, deep inside.

She blinked, and the world returned to her – a crash of color and sound. She realized she was still standing in the merchant district. Glancing around for Kief, she spotted him batting his paw at one of the fresh fish dangling from the side of another seller’s stand, willing it to drop into his waiting maw. Racing over, she scooped him up and plopped him on her shoulder before the owner noticed what he was up to. She smiled as she softly scolded the little rascal. Even if this wasn’t reality, even if nothing made sense… She couldn’t give up. Not yet.

Though as she walked with head held high, she felt several stares upon her, thinly veiled. She could hear women whispering and casting glances as she passed by their clusters, and she froze in place. Their disapproving undertones did even more to damage her ego than the giggles and open gestures of children. Kids were kids, but what were these witches- er, ladies saying about her behind her back? Her heart sank bitterly as she recalled unpleasant memories, though she tried to remind herself it was probably because she was a stranger in their midst. Comparing her baggy jacket and jeans to the smooth silks the women wore, she realized just how much she must stand out. In a way, it comforted her that the problem might simply be reduced to her outer wear. But how to go about getting a change of clothes? She had no money on her…

She sensed a song to her side, and turned to see a man charming a snake from its pot by the magical sound of a flute. People were gathered round, captivated by the performance. An idea occurred to her, which she whispered to Kief before setting him down on the street. She cleared her throat, and called out in a voice she hoped would carry over the other peddlers hawking their wares, though it was still quiet by normal standards.

“Greetings! We are traveling entertainers! We, uh, have come from a far away land in search of food and a place to rest. We have heard of your city’s hospitality, and hope you would be so kind as to help us. Please, er, enjoy the show, and any offerings you can hand to my… Um… Friend here.”

As a punctuation to the sorry speech, Kief barked loudly to announce his presence, drawing all attention to himself. Jess was thankful for his input, since her quavering voice clearly indicated she was not used to speaking in front of crowds, let alone perform. He would handle most of the work though, while his trainer kept a weather eye out for the guards, ready to grab the money and run if they came.

“All right, Kief. Let’s try this. Start with CHARM to win the audience. Then, use DOUBLE TEAM to make it look like there are more of you.” Kief’s earlier clone had given her inspiration. “Try and TRICK the audience into thinking you’re juggling your Devil Horns between the doubles. Even better, see if you can borrow some fruit from the vendor back there. Show him you really COVET just a few, and you promise to return them afterwards. If that doesn’t work I’ll try asking, and throw them to you. When you’re done, toss them up and then use your TAIL to WHIP the fruits back into the cart. (If he’s nice enough to let us keep some, you could also try shooting PIN MISSILEs through their centers while they’re in the air.) Next, ROLLOUT the rest of the clones while circling around, and use U-TURN to perform a flip back to the center. Finally, let’s really impress them by showing off your special move: CAN’T CATCH ME. I’m sure that’ll get ‘em going. (Plus if the police show up we can always use your ability to Run Away.)”

Jessica took a deep breath and crossed her fingers, wishing this plan would work and that they weren’t about to make fools of themselves. If they managed to make some cash, she’d then work up the courage to ask the women where they bought their clothes, or if there was a local tailor nearby. Requesting to borrow or barter for some of their outfits right off the bat would probably look way too suspicious.


Can't Catch Me (Normal)
Using this move your Pokemon transforms into a miniture Gingerbread version of themselves, it makes all moves less likely to hit and for 3 Rounds until they revert back your Pokemon has the ability Run Away, but the one downside to this is all Teeth using moves cause x4 damage no matter what. The Move uses the same amount of energy that a Protect would use.
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Old 07-27-2012, 09:37 PM   #81
Talon87
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The Labyrinth of Koros
Meetan: While Torchic pecks away, it dawns on you that perhaps these tiles can be destroyed. If that were to happen, then these dry channels should fill with the water from the circular channel surrounding you. And if they were to fill with water -- your eyes trace back along one of the linear channels towards the statue, into whose base the channel seems to disappear -- then maybe ...

"The waters of Hygros shall guide you ..."

"Torchic, do you think you could use an attack like Strength or Night Slash to break this tile?" you ask your Pokemon. "I think it's what's stopping the water from getting through here!" As Torchic pulls back from the tile and prepares to unleash an attack, you hop over to one of the other three channels and kneel down in front of the ceramic tile sealing it off from the surrounding stream of water. You wonder to yourself, maybe even I can punch through one of these? "If I survive this, Bagon," you say, turning back over your shoulder to address the tired baby dragon, "I'm getting my nails redone." Bagon snorts, and you think you can see him roll his eyes as if to say, "Our survival depends on this?" But as you turn back around to face the ceramic tile in front of you, Bagon behind you actually trots over to another of the tiles, kicking the dust in the dried-up channel behind him as if preparing to charge.

The first to act is Torchic. He too is scratching at the ground with his chicken-like talons. You don't see it but they start to glow mysteriously, a shadowy black aura enveloping a bright white center. Suddenly Torchic charges towards his target, "TOOOOOOOOOORCHIC!", and jumpkicks into the air. Right before impact, he makes a vicious slash with his claws, coated by an energy as dark as night. The slashing movement slices into the ceramic tile, cracking it; and as Torchic lands on the tile, he pushes off with all of his might, rebounding back towards the statue. It's a good thing he did this, too, because that blow crumbled the tile before him into six or seven shards and allowed a gentle stream of water to start pouring forth immediately. It crawls over and around the broken clay and flows in a straight line towards the statue. Torchic hops out of the way and lands safely in one of the four dry quadrants between each of the channels.

Right as Torchic is in mid-flight, you and Bagon make your moves as well. You clench your hand into a fist and punch at your tile, breaking it in much the same manner as Torchic has just broken his, the water flowing through in front of you, wetting your hand and soaking your right foot and pant leg. Not wanting to get completely soaked by the water as it continues to pour in, you quickly rise and hop to the side. You watch as the water eagerly quenches the thousand-year thirst of the stones before it and makes its way steadily towards the statue. Bagon, who had been scraping at the ground with his two hind legs as if preparing to charge, does in fact charge, his head lowered, his eyes on the prize. His great bony skull crashes into the tile in front of him, breaking it on impact, and as he instinctively hops away, the water begins to trickle through the cracks in the demolished tile before it gives way to the eager water on the other side. The whole process takes less than a second, and Bagon is soon watching water trip over itself as it makes its way down his channel and towards the statue.

The three of you know what to do next. You all make your way towards the fourth and final tile. You arrive at roughly the same time, Bagon on the left, Torchic in the center, and you on the right. "1 ... 2 ..." you say. You pull back your arm for another punch. Torchic pulls back for another kick. Bagon scrapes at the ground for another charge. Your teamwork is flawless, if a bit overkill, and the three you pulverize the final clay tile. You think you see the bottom half of it turn to dust but you can't be sure since whatever dust might have formed is soon carried off by the water that's rushing in. It splashes over Bagon's bony scalp and he hops backward onto dry land. Some of the spray hits Torchic who chirps in light protest. He jumps atop the base of the statue for safety, clutching tightly with his talons. And as for you, well, your other pant leg gets wet this time, but you too hop over to one of the dry quadrants. And then ...

All three of you watch as the water rushes towards a hole at the base of the statue. Instinctively you afford a quick glance at the other channels. You notice that they appear to be full of water and are slowly rising but seem to have otherwise already hit an equilibrium. This fourth channel is only just getting started on that leg of the adventure but it won't take long for it too to fill. And as it does, you hear something.

*CLICK*

"Torchic?" Your feathery friend cocks his head to the side, inquisitively. "Bagon?" Your baby dragon is standing behind and to the right of the statue. He too is looking at the statue, trying to find the source of the noise you all just heard. And then ...

*CLICK* *CLICK*

There it is again. It almost sounds ... mechanical in nature. But it's a strange sort of mechanical. It's not entirely metallic. In fact, while there are hints of metallic squeakings and springings, you think you hear the noise of stone grinding on stone. Your guess was right, you realize: you don't know what you've just activated, but whatever it is you're sure it was activated by the water you just allowed into the channels. You glance down at them again. All four have equilibrated from the look of things. The water in the room now forms a circle with four radial paths each leading to the statue at 90° angles from one another. And the statue ...

"Guys, the statue!"

*GRIND GRIND GRIND GRIND*
*CLINK CLINK CLINK CLINK


You call out to your Pokemon. The statue ... it's moving! Torchic, startled by the sudden movement, hops down from his perch and flutters over to your side. Bagon hops over the streams of water and joins you at your side as well. The three of you look up at the statue in wonder and amazement as the left arm of the statue elevates and rotates around, in a graceful sweeping motion, to bring the statue's left hand to join its right. As the left arm sweeps up and around like this, at the same time the right arm begins to fan out at a 90° angle in the coronal plane. At the time the two hands meet, the statue is cupping the blue orb with both its hands beneath it. The sound reminds you of a combination of the high-pitched noise of huge blocks of granite grinding against one another and the metallic clinking sound of a drawbridge lowering.

*GRIND GRIND GRIND GRIND*
*CLINK CLINK CLINK CLINK


The two arms extend out from the body of the statue towards you, Torchic, and Bagon. The upper half of the statue bends forward in what looks to be a slight bow. And then, just as soon as it started, the mechanical noises come to a stop and the statue finds its new resting position. The only sound in the room is that of the water rushing over the walls of the chamber and coursing through the channels.

What do you do?

Pokémon in the area:
none

FFA Inventory:
x1 parchment


The Tale of the Wishmakers:
lilbluecorsola:
You look down at your clothes. Your baggy jacket and jeans stand out like a sore thumb compared with the Arabesque clothing worn by the locals. You consider that perhaps the women are staring only because of your conspicuous dress. If only you could change into something a little more local, then perhaps you might blend in with the crowd and lose the guards. But how? Without any money, purchasing new clothes is out of the question.

That's when you notice the snakecharmer. Men, women, and children are gathered around his basket, watching as his Ekans slowly rises, dancing left and right to the tune of the flute. There's our ticket out of this mess, you realize. You whisper some instructions in Kief's ear, then set him down on the ground; and clearing your throat you try to catch the marketgoers' attention.

“Greetings! We are traveling entertainers! We, uh, have come from a faraway land in search of food and a place to rest. We have heard of your city’s hospitality, and hope you would be so kind as to help us. Please, er, enjoy the show, and any offerings you can hand to my… Um… Friend here.”

That was terrible, you worriedly think to yourself. A few people walking down the street obviously stop to look at the crazed woman in the strange clothes who is shouting something about entertainment and hospitality, but nothing that can rightly be called a crowd has yet to form.

*BARK!*

Lovable Kief comes to your rescue with a bark which draws attention away from you to him. A few people at the vendor across the street turn around to see what all the commotion is about. Two boys running down the street spot Kief and come to a halt in front of you two, their eyes fixed on the adorable raccoon-dog. This is the catalyst you needed. Now to send sparks flying ...

"“All right, Kief. Let's start with Charm to win the audience!" Kief barks in affirmation. He waggles his body looking like a cat ready to pounce, shaking his adorable tail left and right. He barks a few times with a happy grin on his face, his eyes twinkling in the sun. That grin, that waggling, ... you know where this is going. And for his grand finale, Kief rolls over onto his back and waggles on the ground, cocking his head up to look at the children. "*bark*?" The children lose it. Kief is so charming that they can't help but to coo and stare fixedly at his lovable antics. And it's not just the boys: several of the people watching from across the street put down the items they were contemplating purchasing and head towards your performance, the protestations and pleas of scorned vendors falling on deaf ears. A few more people who had been walking down the street towards destinations unknown are drawn in by the commotion. Gradually, a crowd is starting to form.

"Now, Kief! Use Double Team!" Kief rolls off his back and yips a confirmatory yip. And then ...! "Ahhh!" cries the crowd in surprise and delight. Suddenly there are not one but three Kiefs! No wait, four! No wait, five! The shadow copies of Kief begin to frolic around the performance area, running in between the legs of those closest to the front, play-wrestling with each other, and doing other cute things. The real Kief intermingles amongst them, sparing a quick look back at his trainer to see the look on her face. You're definitely pleased with how things are going. "Mommy, look!" you hear a small child say. "Look at all the doggies!" Some of the women from before are now gathered here too, their young children tugging at their gowns. Good, you say. Now to kick things up a notch.

"Kief, try and trick the audience into thinking you’re juggling your Devil Horns between the doubles!" you shout. "Huh?" the audience says in confused consternation. "Try and trick us?" "What's that supposed to mean?" "What's she trying to pull?" In your excitement you don't realize that by shouting this command out loud to Kief you've spoiled the trick itself. Kief looks back at you and barks disapprovingly. Oops, you blush. Quick, Jess, think! Think! What else can we try? you worriedly ask yourself, a trickle of sweat starting to form on your brow. Then it comes to you.

"Alright, never mind that one, Kief! See if you can borrow some fruit from the vendor back there!" You point out one of the vendors across the way, the one selling the exotic fruits. Kief barks an understanding "Got it!" and scampers off towards the man's stall. Kief looks up at the vendor with puppydog eyes. But the vendor merely returns his gaze with a look of solemn contempt of his own. "No money, no fruit," he seems to be saying with his stern stare. You shout over the tops of the crowd gathered round you, still watching the shadow clones frolic and play, "Kief! Show him you really covet just a few, and you promise to return them afterwards." Kief wags his tail and his butt just as before. But what worked on the children seems to have no effect on the fruit vendor. "Git! Git!" He leans over and waves an arm over the tops of his fruits towards Kief, trying to shoo the raccoon-dog away. As he tries to right himself back up, the force topples a few aspear berries. Kief lunges forward and picks one of the pieces of fruit up in his mouth and scampers back over to you. "HEY!" the shop keeper shouts angrily. "Sorry!" you yell back to him. Kief tunnels and dives through the narrow openings in between the legs of the crowd, a crowd whose size has now grown larger than you could've originally hoped for. "Good boy, Kief!" You congratulate him with a warm smile and a tickle of his chin as he drops the fruit at your feet. The shop keeper probably wouldn't want this back anyway now that Kief's toothmarks are indented in the skin of the aspear. In that case ...

"Use your tail to whip the fruit into the air, Kief!" "*bark*!" he yips happily. He picks up the fruit with his mouth, tosses it with a backwards jerk of the head towards his tail, and with a precise and powerful brushing movement he launches it into the sky! "Great! Now aim for the center using Pin Missile!" Kief focuses on the aerial aspear, his jagged fur startling to bristle even more than usual. Suddenly Kief looks more like a porcupine-dog than a raccoon-dog as his body is covered in erect needle-like quills. The aspear reaches the zenith of its trajectory, the sun glints off its yellow body, it silhouettes in the sunlight, and then ...! A barrage of needles fire from Kief's body, hurtling through space towards the berry in the sky! *TCH!TCH!TCH!TCH!* Several needles embed themselves in the fruit before one needle deals the finishing blow and cleaves the aspear in half. The two halves fall back down to the ground with a thud. The audience is impressed, "Ooh!"ing and cheering and clapping. A few coins start to be thrown your way. Things are going great.

"Okay, Kief! Rollout the clones while circling around and then make a U-turn flip back to the center!" Kief tucks his head in between his forepaws and brings both towards his hindlegs, rolling into a ball. The ball digs into the dirt and kicks up a small dustcloud before it veers off. Like a motorized bowling ball on a search-and-destroy mission, Kief takes out one bowling pin shadow clone after another. *POOF! POOF! POOF! POOF!* they go as one after another they turn to white smoke. After Kief has taken out the last of them, with his back turned to you, he leaps up into the sky, performing a backflip as he returns to the center of the performance area. The crowd cheers and claps. A few exuberant men loudly whistle. Some more coins are thrown your way. Good, good! And now, you confidently declare to yourself, for the big finish!

"Kief, it looks like the crowd's enjoying this. But now let’s really impress 'em by showing off your special move: Can't Catch Me! I’m sure that’ll get ‘em going!"

You were doing so well. If this were back home, Kief's special move would've probably gotten a standing ovation out of a crowd this enthused. But you're not back home, and what takes place next will be one of the first of many reminders of this fact. Kief doesn't sense the problem with the command either as he happily barks and scrunches his body together and closes his eyes. Suddenly there is a poof of smoke. The audience holds their breath and you clench your fist, victoriously grinning. This is it. As the smoke clears, what stands before the audience is not a normal-sized raccoon-dog like before. In its place appears to be a gingerbread cookie in the shape of a raccoon-dog about one-fourth the original's size. It looks as though Kief has been replaced by a gingerbread Zigzagoon! The audience gasps. Even had the trick gone no further than this it still might've been enough. But the trick does go further. For the Gingerbread Kief happily barks and starts to run about in circles. A few of the children are speechless. Maybe one or two are smiling, it's impossible to tell. Because any innocent wide-eyed wonder is soon masked by horror as the audience shrieks at what they've just seen take place. "AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" one of the people in the crowd cries. "WITCHCRAFT!" "A WITCH! SHE'S A WITCH!" The crowd forms into a dangerous stampede as men and women hurry away, the women clutching the hands of the children and dragging them off, and leaves you and Kief completely speechless. What ... what just happened?

"There! Over there!" You turn your head to see one of the fleeing crowd members talking to a man in a white turban and holding a large, glinting blade of steel. Ohhhhhhh shoot!, you think. The guards! She points over in your direction, turns back to the guard, then turns back in your direction and points again, pumping her arm so hard it looks like it's about to fall off. Show's over, you realize, as you scoop the Gingerbread Kief up into your arms and prepare to make a run for it. There's no time to grab any of the coins on the ground. You've gotta get out of here and fast. But how? Where?

"Pssssssssst! Over here!"

You see a long arm with spiderlike fingers sticking out from one of the narrow alleyways between two of the shops behind you.

"This way! Hurry!"

There's no time to think. With Gingerbread Kief in your arms, you make a run for the break in the wall. "After her!" "This way!" "She can't have gotten too far!" You hear voices behind you. You turn your head back to look and you see several of the guardsmen running down the street. It looks like somehow none of them managed to see you head for this narrow alley. You turn your head back around to face the owner of that mysterious arm. But there's no one to be seen. You look further down the alley and spot it once more: the long, slender arm beckoning to you from around a corner. "This way!" a voice rasps. "Quickly, now, quickly!" You run down the alley towards the arm. As you do, it slinks out of sight around the corner. You reach the corner, round it, and ...

"Hello."
"AAAH!"

The old woman startles you. Her dark bronze skin has been weathered by many years of abuse under the harsh desert sun; it is covered with numerous liver spots and tinier black freckles. She has two large warts, one on her long nose, the other on her right cheek. Her grin is toothless save for a few rogue incisors and other teeth here or there. And her eyes ... one is jet black, as dark as coal, so black you can hardly make out where the iris ends and the pupil begins ... the other is the tell-tale milky blue of one who's gone blind in that eye. You know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but still!

"Iiiiii'm sorry to have startled you, dearie" she smiles, her cheeks crinkling. "That was some trick," she says, pointing her walking stick at Kief. "Veeeeery impressive." After how the crowd reacted just now, you're not sure what to make of this old woman's compliments. She continues. "I've seen many trainers in my day, but none that can turn their friends into little cookies!" The Gingerbread Kief crawls up onto your shoulder with a start and peeks out from behind your neck at the toothless old woman, shivering. Her dark eye sizes you up while her milky blue one seems to point straight at Kief. "You're ... not from around here, are you?" You gulp. Who is this old woman? And how does she know you and Kief aren't from around here? Something tells you it's more than just the clothes. You jump with a start as the old woman leans forward and traces a long, slender finger down your spine. "Mmhmm," she says, her eyes dancing all over you. "Yeeees. Yeeeeees, you'll do quite nicely," she starts to nod approvingly, a serious but content look on her face. "Dearie," she asks you, "... how would you like to go home?"

How do you answer the old woman? What do you do?

Pokémon in the area:
a Rattata rummaging through trash in the distance

FFA Inventory:
none
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Old 07-28-2012, 06:44 AM   #82
Meetan
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Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
The Labyrinth of Koros
Meetan: While Torchic pecks away, it dawns on you that perhaps these tiles can be destroyed. If that were to happen, then these dry channels should fill with the water from the circular channel surrounding you. And if they were to fill with water -- your eyes trace back along one of the linear channels towards the statue, into whose base the channel seems to disappear -- then maybe ...

"The waters of Hygros shall guide you ..."

"Torchic, do you think you could use an attack like Strength or Night Slash to break this tile?" you ask your Pokemon. "I think it's what's stopping the water from getting through here!" As Torchic pulls back from the tile and prepares to unleash an attack, you hop over to one of the other three channels and kneel down in front of the ceramic tile sealing it off from the surrounding stream of water. You wonder to yourself, maybe even I can punch through one of these? "If I survive this, Bagon," you say, turning back over your shoulder to address the tired baby dragon, "I'm getting my nails redone." Bagon snorts, and you think you can see him roll his eyes as if to say, "Our survival depends on this?" But as you turn back around to face the ceramic tile in front of you, Bagon behind you actually trots over to another of the tiles, kicking the dust in the dried-up channel behind him as if preparing to charge.

The first to act is Torchic. He too is scratching at the ground with his chicken-like talons. You don't see it but they start to glow mysteriously, a shadowy black aura enveloping a bright white center. Suddenly Torchic charges towards his target, "TOOOOOOOOOORCHIC!", and jumpkicks into the air. Right before impact, he makes a vicious slash with his claws, coated by an energy as dark as night. The slashing movement slices into the ceramic tile, cracking it; and as Torchic lands on the tile, he pushes off with all of his might, rebounding back towards the statue. It's a good thing he did this, too, because that blow crumbled the tile before him into six or seven shards and allowed a gentle stream of water to start pouring forth immediately. It crawls over and around the broken clay and flows in a straight line towards the statue. Torchic hops out of the way and lands safely in one of the four dry quadrants between each of the channels.

Right as Torchic is in mid-flight, you and Bagon make your moves as well. You clench your hand into a fist and punch at your tile, breaking it in much the same manner as Torchic has just broken his, the water flowing through in front of you, wetting your hand and soaking your right foot and pant leg. Not wanting to get completely soaked by the water as it continues to pour in, you quickly rise and hop to the side. You watch as the water eagerly quenches the thousand-year thirst of the stones before it and makes its way steadily towards the statue. Bagon, who had been scraping at the ground with his two hind legs as if preparing to charge, does in fact charge, his head lowered, his eyes on the prize. His great bony skull crashes into the tile in front of him, breaking it on impact, and as he instinctively hops away, the water begins to trickle through the cracks in the demolished tile before it gives way to the eager water on the other side. The whole process takes less than a second, and Bagon is soon watching water trip over itself as it makes its way down his channel and towards the statue.

The three of you know what to do next. You all make your way towards the fourth and final tile. You arrive at roughly the same time, Bagon on the left, Torchic in the center, and you on the right. "1 ... 2 ..." you say. You pull back your arm for another punch. Torchic pulls back for another kick. Bagon scrapes at the ground for another charge. Your teamwork is flawless, if a bit overkill, and the three you pulverize the final clay tile. You think you see the bottom half of it turn to dust but you can't be sure since whatever dust might have formed is soon carried off by the water that's rushing in. It splashes over Bagon's bony scalp and he hops backward onto dry land. Some of the spray hits Torchic who chirps in light protest. He jumps atop the base of the statue for safety, clutching tightly with his talons. And as for you, well, your other pant leg gets wet this time, but you too hop over to one of the dry quadrants. And then ...

All three of you watch as the water rushes towards a hole at the base of the statue. Instinctively you afford a quick glance at the other channels. You notice that they appear to be full of water and are slowly rising but seem to have otherwise already hit an equilibrium. This fourth channel is only just getting started on that leg of the adventure but it won't take long for it too to fill. And as it does, you hear something.

*CLICK*

"Torchic?" Your feathery friend cocks his head to the side, inquisitively. "Bagon?" Your baby dragon is standing behind and to the right of the statue. He too is looking at the statue, trying to find the source of the noise you all just heard. And then ...

*CLICK* *CLICK*

There it is again. It almost sounds ... mechanical in nature. But it's a strange sort of mechanical. It's not entirely metallic. In fact, while there are hints of metallic squeakings and springings, you think you hear the noise of stone grinding on stone. Your guess was right, you realize: you don't know what you've just activated, but whatever it is you're sure it was activated by the water you just allowed into the channels. You glance down at them again. All four have equilibrated from the look of things. The water in the room now forms a circle with four radial paths each leading to the statue at 90° angles from one another. And the statue ...

"Guys, the statue!"

*GRIND GRIND GRIND GRIND*
*CLINK CLINK CLINK CLINK


You call out to your Pokemon. The statue ... it's moving! Torchic, startled by the sudden movement, hops down from his perch and flutters over to your side. Bagon hops over the streams of water and joins you at your side as well. The three of you look up at the statue in wonder and amazement as the left arm of the statue elevates and rotates around, in a graceful sweeping motion, to bring the statue's left hand to join its right. As the left arm sweeps up and around like this, at the same time the right arm begins to fan out at a 90° angle in the coronal plane. At the time the two hands meet, the statue is cupping the blue orb with both its hands beneath it. The sound reminds you of a combination of the high-pitched noise of huge blocks of granite grinding against one another and the metallic clinking sound of a drawbridge lowering.

*GRIND GRIND GRIND GRIND*
*CLINK CLINK CLINK CLINK


The two arms extend out from the body of the statue towards you, Torchic, and Bagon. The upper half of the statue bends forward in what looks to be a slight bow. And then, just as soon as it started, the mechanical noises come to a stop and the statue finds its new resting position. The only sound in the room is that of the water rushing over the walls of the chamber and coursing through the channels.

What do you do?

Pokémon in the area:
none

FFA Inventory:
x1 parchment
Alice looked over to Torchic as he made his attack, the move black and beautiful, and also effective as the tile cracked, then proceeded to crumble from his bounce away. This at least protected his feathers from the water catching the bird, and she beamed, offering some praise before making her own move, not yet aware that Bagon was helping, too.

It took some concentration. She wasn't a fighting type herself, and she had small hands, but the knowledge that death could be around the corner inspired some force. Her clenched fist did the job, and water flooded into the channel, dampening the hem of her dress and soaking her flats. They were wet enough already! She cursed at the stinging after pain, and shifted her gaze as another tile smashed.

"Oh, Bagon." The trainer said, looking appreciative but also sympathetic. "You look knackered. Thank you, but you really should take a break." Alice told him, getting up and moving to the final tile with her Pokemon. With the three of them, it would be a piece of cake (albeit less yummy), and the tile is pulverised under their combined power. The outfit didn't matter for now, it was already wet. "Aww, Torchic!" She chimed as he fled from getting splashed, and she affectionately petted Bagon's rocky head.

The statue began moving, and Alice frowned, steadily rising to her feet. She could hear clicking, and the grinding of stone against stone. "Guys, the statue!" She called, and her little bird again moved, the three of them observing the beautiful statue's sweeping arm motions and elegant bow, appearing to offer the big blue orb to them. Alice hesitated, but didn't wait too long before going forward, cautiously attempting to pick up the blue sphere.

"Maybe this will guide us." She recalled the parchment, giving the object a concentrated inspection.


((Stats.))
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Old 07-28-2012, 07:16 PM   #83
Talon87
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The Labyrinth of Koros
Meetan: There's no mistaking what this means: the statue is offering you the blue orb. Before, it held the orb tightly between its two hands; now, the orb is no longer secured between them but is instead supported by both from underneath. Before, the arms were kept close to the body of the statue; now, they stretch out to meet you as if offering a gift. And before, the statue stood straight and tall; now, it seems to honor you with its gentle bow.

"Maybe this will guide us," you say optimistically. You place one hand on either side of the orb and with a firm but gentle motion you lift the orb off of the statue's hands. It is dense and heavy like a bowling ball. Peering into it, you feel like you are gazing upon something which is halfway in between a huge drop of liquid ocean and a sphere of solid crystal. It is smooth, glassine, and pleasant to the touch. Its rich blues are almost hypnotic, they are so beautiful.

The spell is broken by a loud sound. You look up from the ball to see, before you, an opening in the wall forming. Two bronze doors swing out from underneath the waterfalls and out into the room, revealing a pathway beyond. You hadn't been able to tell for certain whether any of the grooves you had felt when you inspected the walls had been secret passageways or just the natural clefts between stones, but sure enough your hunch was right -- the waterfalls had concealed an exit after all. And removing the orb from the statue appears to have been the key to get those doors to open. Water crashes down all around them split into separate falls, one on either side of each door, but pours into the great well-reservoir below just as before, relatively unhindered. Beyond the doors you see a long passageway. The first 10 meters or so are in the shade of a great stone ceiling but beyond that the path is as well-lit as any of the others in the labyrinth have been so far.

The weight of the ball in your hands demands your attention. It's quite heavy, far too heavy to be lugged around this labyrinth by hand.

What do you do?

Pokémon in the area:
none

FFA Inventory:
x1 parchment
x1 blue orb


The Tale of the Wishmakers:
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Old 07-28-2012, 08:04 PM   #84
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
The Labyrinth of Koros
Meetan: There's no mistaking what this means: the statue is offering you the blue orb. Before, it held the orb tightly between its two hands; now, the orb is no longer secured between them but is instead supported by both from underneath. Before, the arms were kept close to the body of the statue; now, they stretch out to meet you as if offering a gift. And before, the statue stood straight and tall; now, it seems to honor you with its gentle bow.

"Maybe this will guide us," you say optimistically. You place one hand on either side of the orb and with a firm but gentle motion you lift the orb off of the statue's hands. It is dense and heavy like a bowling ball. Peering into it, you feel like you are gazing upon something which is halfway in between a huge drop of liquid ocean and a sphere of solid crystal. It is smooth, glassine, and pleasant to the touch. Its rich blues are almost hypnotic, they are so beautiful.

The spell is broken by a loud sound. You look up from the ball to see, before you, an opening in the wall forming. Two bronze doors swing out from underneath the waterfalls and out into the room, revealing a pathway beyond. You hadn't been able to tell for certain whether any of the grooves you had felt when you inspected the walls had been secret passageways or just the natural clefts between stones, but sure enough your hunch was right -- the waterfalls had concealed an exit after all. And removing the orb from the statue appears to have been the key to get those doors to open. Water crashes down all around them split into separate falls, one on either side of each door, but pours into the great well-reservoir below just as before, relatively unhindered. Beyond the doors you see a long passageway. The first 10 meters or so are in the shade of a great stone ceiling but beyond that the path is as well-lit as any of the others in the labyrinth have been so far.

The weight of the ball in your hands demands your attention. It's quite heavy, far too heavy to be lugged around this labyrinth by hand.

What do you do?

Pokémon in the area:
none

FFA Inventory:
x1 parchment
x1 blue orb
Alice moved her hands up and down initially, getting a sense of the ball's weight as she observed it. She was mesmerised by the blue, as if she had a solid, but watery planet in her grasp. Only, this fascination was broken as her earlier instincts were confirmed: two bronze doors swung open beneath the waterfalls, inviting her to progress to another stretch of the labyrinth.

Only, this thing was heavy, Alice realised as she continued on with her Pokemon in tow. Bagon knew Strength, but he was exhausted. "Bagon, you should rest for a while." The girl noted, hugging the ball very carefully and briefly to her person with one hand to bring the baby back into his red and white sphere. Torchic did, too, but he wouldn't be able to get a grasp on it. Aside from Bagon, her Pokemon lacked actual hands. This was not helpful right now.

"I can't carry this the whole way, but chances are, I'm going to need it for something later. If I leave it, fate'll definitely bite me in the ass." She thought alloud, looking around for something to carry it in. There was her bag, but that was a last resort. It'd weigh her down a lot and probably hurt as she ran. Then, an unconventional idea hit, and again, Alice reached for a Poke Ball (7/10). This time it was empty.

"I've seen people catch items by accident and stuff, so maybe this'll work...?" Well, it was worth a shot!


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Old 07-28-2012, 09:27 PM   #85
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The Labyrinth of Koros
Meetan: You turn your attention to the exit. Heading around the statue and approaching the ledge of the well-reservoir, you cradle the blue orb, holding it tightly against your chest to keep it from rolling over your arms and crashing onto the ground. It hurts. The ball is quite heavy and its weight digs into your radii, threatening to bruise them. This won't do. You shift to carrying the ball between your two hands. Nuh uh. You try holding it like the statue, with both hands underneath. At least this doesn't hurt and you don't feel like the ball's going to roll off ... but this is taxing what little stamina your arms have left. And as you shift the ball around like this, you reach the well-reservoir. The exit has opened up behind some of the original waterfalls; its doors now send the water down into the reservoir below by way of four smaller showery streams. You place a leg up on the ledge and ready your body to swing forward and up onto the lip of the well-reservoir. But you can tell that this probably isn't going to work. Not with the ball like this, anyway. Torchic and Bagon both look at you from behind, eyeing the showers above and the heavy ball in their trainer's hands.

What do you do?


OoC: The issue of the ball's weight needs to be addressed before you can exit the chamber. You can try to exit carrying it out by hand if you like. If so, reply to the above "what do you do?" and try to exit. If not, I'll go ahead and write the reply I have for you assuming Alice decides to try to place the ball down and use a PokéBall on it. Please ignore the following text if you do attempt to exit the chamber right now.

Meetan (con't): You kneel down to the ground and gently place the ball on the stone floor. You steady it with your hand to try and keep it from rolling away, but Torchic sees this and rushes over to help. "I can't carry this the whole way, but chances are I'm going to need it for something later. If I leave it, fate'll definitely bite me in the ass," you think aloud. As the little bird pushes against the ball with his head, keeping it from rolling away, you continue to think. There's your bag, you consider, but you decide that that is a last resort. You're worried the ball will weigh you down and hurt you as you run throughout the labyrinth. There's also the problem of space: if you do decide to place the blue orb in your backpack, you'll probably have to take everything else out first. But you think it would probably fit if you tried so you tuck this idea away for now while you consider your other options. That's when your next idea hits you. "I've seen people catch items by accident and stuff," you say, reaching for an empty PokéBall, "so maybe this'll work...?"

You aim your PokéBall at the blue orb, hoping to see the telltale arc of red energy issue forth from the ball's center and towards the glass ball at your feet. Nothing. You try throwing the ball at the orb. Torchic hops out of the way as the PokéBall *TINK!*s off of the cerulean surface and falls to the ground. No luck. You may have seen PokéBalls take up material objects before, but whatever this orb is, it doesn't seem to want to go inside.

What now?

Pokémon in the area:
none

FFA Inventory:
x1 parchment
x1 blue orb


OoC: I tried looking up examples of PokéBalls being used to take in physical matter but the closest I could find from the anime was the time Ash "caught" a rice ball. Checking the episode, I can confirm that it does transform into red energy before it enters the PokéBall, so it's not like I originally suspected (that the rice ball may have simply been small enough to physically be stuck inside without having been energized the way captured Pokemon are), but I couldn't find any examples besides this. While you're probably right that PokéBalls can be used to hold various sorts of physical items (especially if we go by the games), let's apply two observations which might satisfy you as to why this clever strategy failed. First, we know that in the anime the heroes carry around many of their physical items (rods, changes of clothes, food) in their backpacks and not inside of PokéBalls which are in turn in their backpacks. We can surmise that if energized matter weighs less than materialized matter, and if PokéBalls could be used to energize any matter, then travelers would carry everything around with them inside of PokéBalls stored inside of their backpacks. Second, the rules for the FFA Zone forbid you from capturing anything. While I would personally be okay with letting you capture things in here for strictly in-zone use only (no shops, no other zones), I'm pretty sure the mods aren't. Therefore, any puzzle you may need to solve will not require you to capture any of the Pokémon you find in here. (That doesn't mean that you can't or shouldn't attempt to interact with the Pokémon in the labyrinth. Depending on the circumstances, they may befriend you and assist you in some manner. Interacting with Pokémon in the labyrinth may even be part of how you have to overcome various obstacles. So don't mistake "no capture" for "no fraternization"!) Let's just pretend that your attempt to energize the orb failed IRL because of this anti-capture rule and in-universe because the orb is magical and resists energization by PokéBalls, okay? But it was clever!

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Old 07-30-2012, 07:20 AM   #86
Meetan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
The Labyrinth of Koros
Meetan: You turn your attention to the exit. Heading around the statue and approaching the ledge of the well-reservoir, you cradle the blue orb, holding it tightly against your chest to keep it from rolling over your arms and crashing onto the ground. It hurts. The ball is quite heavy and its weight digs into your radii, threatening to bruise them. This won't do. You shift to carrying the ball between your two hands. Nuh uh. You try holding it like the statue, with both hands underneath. At least this doesn't hurt and you don't feel like the ball's going to roll off ... but this is taxing what little stamina your arms have left. And as you shift the ball around like this, you reach the well-reservoir. The exit has opened up behind some of the original waterfalls; its doors now send the water down into the reservoir below by way of four smaller showery streams. You place a leg up on the ledge and ready your body to swing forward and up onto the lip of the well-reservoir. But you can tell that this probably isn't going to work. Not with the ball like this, anyway. Torchic and Bagon both look at you from behind, eyeing the showers above and the heavy ball in their trainer's hands.

What do you do?


OoC: The issue of the ball's weight needs to be addressed before you can exit the chamber. You can try to exit carrying it out by hand if you like. If so, reply to the above "what do you do?" and try to exit. If not, I'll go ahead and write the reply I have for you assuming Alice decides to try to place the ball down and use a PokéBall on it. Please ignore the following text if you do attempt to exit the chamber right now.

Meetan (con't): You kneel down to the ground and gently place the ball on the stone floor. You steady it with your hand to try and keep it from rolling away, but Torchic sees this and rushes over to help. "I can't carry this the whole way, but chances are I'm going to need it for something later. If I leave it, fate'll definitely bite me in the ass," you think aloud. As the little bird pushes against the ball with his head, keeping it from rolling away, you continue to think. There's your bag, you consider, but you decide that that is a last resort. You're worried the ball will weigh you down and hurt you as you run throughout the labyrinth. There's also the problem of space: if you do decide to place the blue orb in your backpack, you'll probably have to take everything else out first. But you think it would probably fit if you tried so you tuck this idea away for now while you consider your other options. That's when your next idea hits you. "I've seen people catch items by accident and stuff," you say, reaching for an empty PokéBall, "so maybe this'll work...?"

You aim your PokéBall at the blue orb, hoping to see the telltale arc of red energy issue forth from the ball's center and towards the glass ball at your feet. Nothing. You try throwing the ball at the orb. Torchic hops out of the way as the PokéBall *TINK!*s off of the cerulean surface and falls to the ground. No luck. You may have seen PokéBalls take up material objects before, but whatever this orb is, it doesn't seem to want to go inside.

What now?

Pokémon in the area:
none

FFA Inventory:
x1 parchment
x1 blue orb


OoC: I tried looking up examples of PokéBalls being used to take in physical matter but the closest I could find from the anime was the time Ash "caught" a rice ball. Checking the episode, I can confirm that it does transform into red energy before it enters the PokéBall, so it's not like I originally suspected (that the rice ball may have simply been small enough to physically be stuck inside without having been energized the way captured Pokemon are), but I couldn't find any examples besides this. While you're probably right that PokéBalls can be used to hold various sorts of physical items (especially if we go by the games), let's apply two observations which might satisfy you as to why this clever strategy failed. First, we know that in the anime the heroes carry around many of their physical items (rods, changes of clothes, food) in their backpacks and not inside of PokéBalls which are in turn in their backpacks. We can surmise that if energized matter weighs less than materialized matter, and if PokéBalls could be used to energize any matter, then travelers would carry everything around with them inside of PokéBalls stored inside of their backpacks. Second, the rules for the FFA Zone forbid you from capturing anything. While I would personally be okay with letting you capture things in here for strictly in-zone use only (no shops, no other zones), I'm pretty sure the mods aren't. Therefore, any puzzle you may need to solve will not require you to capture any of the Pokémon you find in here. (That doesn't mean that you can't or shouldn't attempt to interact with the Pokémon in the labyrinth. Depending on the circumstances, they may befriend you and assist you in some manner. Interacting with Pokémon in the labyrinth may even be part of how you have to overcome various obstacles. So don't mistake "no capture" for "no fraternization"!) Let's just pretend that your attempt to energize the orb failed IRL because of this anti-capture rule and in-universe because the orb is magical and resists energization by PokéBalls, okay? But it was clever![/color]
((I already knew of the 'no capture' rule and certainly wouldn't make the assumption not to interact with them. I was also pretty sure the Poke Ball thing would fail, but ofc my character has no idea and I thought it might be worth a shot. xP -felt like being a clever clogs lol-))

"Well, fml." Alice summarised very shortly, picking up the Poke Ball to pocket it again. Torchic still lingered close, and she sighed to him. This wasn't going very well. She didn't have time to unpack and repack her bag, at least not now. "I'll just... Have to try and carry it for a while. Maybe there'll be something that can help sort this later, or a puzzle to leave it in." The trainer finished hopefully, reaching down to pick the orb, before going to leave the chamber through to the path beyond the new opening.


((Stats.))
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Old 07-30-2012, 11:08 PM   #87
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Keith wandered into the forest, not even knowing the name of it. He was out to have an adventure, though, and if there was anything to do in this wooded area, he was going to find it and have a good time of it.

The Shuppet floating next to him, however, did not seem to share his optimistic sentiments.

"Why have you drag-ged me in-to this hell-hole in the mid-dle of no-where, Id-i-ot Meat Sack?" demanded the Shuppet. "I do not see the point of this what-so-ev-er."

"There's no real point, Myrtle," Keith sighed. "We're just here to have a good time, find something fun to do, maybe get into some battles if we're lucky."

"Sure-ly you do not in-tend to make use of me in an-y of these bat-tles?" sneered Myrtle. "My on-ly a-ttack is Knock Off, you know, and that does not do ver-y much at all."

"We've gotta start somewhere," Keith shrugged.

"I beg to dif-fer," scowled Myrtle. "I would rath-er you trade me to that girl who speaks the lan-guage of my kind. I have no in-ten-tion of o-bey-ing your or-ders, you know."

"With only Knock Off at your disposal, it's not like you're overburdened with options," Keith replied coolly.

"You do rea-lize that you are an id-i-ot, right, Id-i-ot Meat Sack?" asked Myrtle.

"You may have mentioned that, Myrtle, yes. At least a dozen times now-"

"Fif-teen times since the trade," Myrtle interrupted.

"You keep count?"

"You have your hob-bies, I have mine."
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Old 07-31-2012, 01:58 PM   #88
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This adventure was originally going to be undertaken by blazeVA, but as he has been inactive for roughly two weeks, it's going to MM. Objections may be directed towards someone who cares.

Forest of Hope (I play too much Pikmin)
Missingno. Master

You were eager to share an adventure with your rather snide new Shuppet, so you darted out into the forest, hoping to bond, perhaps even take in a battle - though with a mono-attacking Shuppet would not likely involve victory. Nevertheless, you pressed on, spending a short afternoon with your ghostie, drinking tea, eating crumpets, and having a wonderful afternoon.

... Yeah right. What kind of adventure would that be?

You WERE intending to do all that... Had the following not happened. Myrtle, perhaps because of her otherworldly nature, senses a chill in the air. Figuring it to be another of her kind, she initially thinks nothing of it, but a sense of unease hangs around her. Out of loyalty, she speaks: "Meat Sack..."

It's at this moment that you're accosted from behind! Something strikes you in the back of the head, and you fall unconscious immediately. The last thing you hear before passing out is a deep male voice yelling "Get the ghost!" The whole thing is such a blur, you can't really pick anything else about what happened out... Sorry buddy, sucks to be you.

---

???
When you awake, you are on a hard stone floor, and there are bars in front of you. You're in some kind of prison cell. Taking in your surroundings, you can see an unmanned desk, and several other empty cells across from you. You cell contains nothing but a bucket of water and a bench. In addition, your Pokémon and bag have been taken from you. It seems you're completely alone, but something feels very unnatural here - what will you do?
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Old 07-31-2012, 02:26 PM   #89
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Son_of_Shadows View Post
This adventure was originally going to be undertaken by blazeVA, but as he has been inactive for roughly two weeks, it's going to MM. Objections may be directed towards someone who cares.

Forest of Hope (I play too much Pikmin)
Missingno. Master

You were eager to share an adventure with your rather snide new Shuppet, so you darted out into the forest, hoping to bond, perhaps even take in a battle - though with a mono-attacking Shuppet would not likely involve victory. Nevertheless, you pressed on, spending a short afternoon with your ghostie, drinking tea, eating crumpets, and having a wonderful afternoon.

... Yeah right. What kind of adventure would that be?

You WERE intending to do all that... Had the following not happened. Myrtle, perhaps because of her otherworldly nature, senses a chill in the air. Figuring it to be another of her kind, she initially thinks nothing of it, but a sense of unease hangs around her. Out of loyalty, she speaks: "Meat Sack..."

It's at this moment that you're accosted from behind! Something strikes you in the back of the head, and you fall unconscious immediately. The last thing you hear before passing out is a deep male voice yelling "Get the ghost!" The whole thing is such a blur, you can't really pick anything else about what happened out... Sorry buddy, sucks to be you.

---

???
When you awake, you are on a hard stone floor, and there are bars in front of you. You're in some kind of prison cell. Taking in your surroundings, you can see an unmanned desk, and several other empty cells across from you. You cell contains nothing but a bucket of water and a bench. In addition, your Pokémon and bag have been taken from you. It seems you're completely alone, but something feels very unnatural here - what will you do?
OOC: Loyalty? Myrtle? Insert sounds of skepticism here.

"Oof... Ow," Keith groaned as he came to. "Myrtle, what the hell was that?"

In response, dead silence. Keith stood up, now somewhat worried; Myrtle may be rude and sarcastic, but she was still his Pokémon, and damn it, he cared about her! Keith looked around, taking in his surroundings. A jail cell. Nothing except a bench and a bucket of water inside. Almost instinctively, Keith reached for his belt, intending to call out his Duskull, but was unsurprised to find that his captors had seen fit to relieve him of his Poké Balls.

"Oh, this is not good at all," Keith murmured quietly. He had no idea where he was, he had no idea where his belongings were, and he had no idea what had become of Myrtle. One thing was on his mind at the moment; escape. Well, that and finding his possessions, but at the moment, escaping his cell was pretty much the top priority. Alas, as he looked around his cell, he saw nothing that could potentially be of use. His eyes rested on the bucket of water, his mind working furiously, trying to see if there was any sort of way it could be used to facilitate an escape. As nothing came to mind, however, he took a seat on the bench, and, as much as it pained him to remain inactive, he could see no other alternative, at least for the time being. He kept his eyes and ears open, though. Perhaps whoever locked him in here would return, and he could get some answers, such as why he was in here in the first place.
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Old 08-05-2012, 10:16 AM   #90
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OOC: Loyalty? Myrtle? Insert sounds of skepticism here.
OOC: Yeah, that was my bad, was thinking of something else entirely.

Prison Cell
Missingno. Master


Glancing around your cell, you see nothing of much use to you, apart from the bucket, but even that seems completely useless to you in your escape attempt. Understandably so - c'mon, what would you even do with it? Clug a guard over the head with it? Well, that relies on a guard being stupid enough to come into the cell. Or you being lucky enough to get out. Frustrated, you take a seat on your cell's bench, which may well be the least comfortable thing you've ever had the misfortune to sit on. So lumpy... Wait, a lumpy wooden bench? Something's not right here! You move around a bit, wondering exactly what's going on, only for the bench to eventually groan in pain.

Yep, you've encountered a sentient bench. Clearly the goons hit you harder than you thought.

No, of course not. A voice whispers from the bench: "Psst, fella. Any of them around?" Thoroughly creeped out, you jump off the bench. "Ah, good! I'll take that as a no." Part of the bench proceeds to stand up and throw off a sheet, revealing a middle-aged, brown-haired man in a trenchcoat. A shiny badge reveals his identity - an agent of the Pokémon Global Police! "My name is Looker," he whispers, "and I'm sure you have dozens of questions swirling through your head right now - but we must act first and ask later in order to escape this facility! However, I must retrieve a valuable data disk first - will you help me?" You can hear footsteps approaching from outside the room...

What will you do?
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Because I look damn good in a dress.
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Old 08-05-2012, 10:46 AM   #91
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Son_of_Shadows View Post
OOC: Yeah, that was my bad, was thinking of something else entirely.

Prison Cell
Missingno. Master


Glancing around your cell, you see nothing of much use to you, apart from the bucket, but even that seems completely useless to you in your escape attempt. Understandably so - c'mon, what would you even do with it? Clug a guard over the head with it? Well, that relies on a guard being stupid enough to come into the cell. Or you being lucky enough to get out. Frustrated, you take a seat on your cell's bench, which may well be the least comfortable thing you've ever had the misfortune to sit on. So lumpy... Wait, a lumpy wooden bench? Something's not right here! You move around a bit, wondering exactly what's going on, only for the bench to eventually groan in pain.

Yep, you've encountered a sentient bench. Clearly the goons hit you harder than you thought.

No, of course not. A voice whispers from the bench: "Psst, fella. Any of them around?" Thoroughly creeped out, you jump off the bench. "Ah, good! I'll take that as a no." Part of the bench proceeds to stand up and throw off a sheet, revealing a middle-aged, brown-haired man in a trenchcoat. A shiny badge reveals his identity - an agent of the Pokémon Global Police! "My name is Looker," he whispers, "and I'm sure you have dozens of questions swirling through your head right now - but we must act first and ask later in order to escape this facility! However, I must retrieve a valuable data disk first - will you help me?" You can hear footsteps approaching from outside the room...

What will you do?
Words cannot describe just how weirded out Keith was right now. Before he could even register the fact that this man had disguised himself as a bench, said man introduced himself as an agent of the International Police- none other than Looker! Keith recognized the name immediately; Looker was the one who had a hand in taking down Team Galactic in Sinnoh. Already he was feeling better about his situation. Indeed, as Looker had said, he had too many questions to count, but as the sound of footsteps approached, Keith decided to cut his response down to the essentials. "Yes, I'll help," he whispered. "But they stole my Pokemon, so we gotta find those, too. I won't leave without them. Someone's coming," he added, casting a nervous glance at the cell door.
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Old 08-05-2012, 05:50 PM   #92
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The Labyrinth of Koros
Meetan: You pick the PokéBall up off of the floor. You didn't think it would work but it was still worth a desperate try. As you place the PokéBall back into your pocket, once again you consider emptying your backpack, putting the orb inside, and then repacking all of your stuff back in; and once again you push this solution out of your mind, deciding you simply don't have the time. You decide the best course of action would be to carry the orb out by hand after all. And so you pick the heavy orb back up off of the ground with a great heave-ho and turn your attention towards the exit once more.

You walk over to the rim of the well-reservoir and put your right foot up on it, ready to rock your body forward and swing yourself up with the forward momentum. As you pick your left foot up off of the ground, you nearly lose your balance and go tumbling into the well; however, you clumsily pirouette around and just barely manage to hold your balance. Torchic visibly breaths a sigh of relief at your nice save as you turn back around and peer down the corridor beyond the now-open doors. It looks like an ordinary stone hall, much like the ones you've been through before, although this one has a stone ceiling covering the hall for the first fifteen feet or so. The water splashing down over the doors occasionally reaches you, gradually moistening your dress. You can't stand here forever. With a hop that's far less graceful than you intended, what with your arms dangling before you with this heavy blue ball in them, you manage to land safely on the stone floor on the other side of the well. You can hear the roar of the water overhead as it flows from some unseen source, over the roof, and down into the well below and now behind you.

Torchic is still in the room behind you. He readies himself to follow by hopping up onto the lip of the well-reservoir. He perches there, however, unsure of whether he can safely continue or not. With waterfalls on either side of him and water below, he looks concerned. He chirps to you, catching your attention.

What do you do?

Pokémon in the area:
none

FFA Inventory:
x1 parchment
x1 blue orb


The Tale of the Wishmakers:
lilbluecorsola:
latest update here

Last edited by Talon87; 08-05-2012 at 05:58 PM.
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Old 08-05-2012, 07:25 PM   #93
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The Labyrinth of Koros
Meetan: You pick the PokéBall up off of the floor. You didn't think it would work but it was still worth a desperate try. As you place the PokéBall back into your pocket, once again you consider emptying your backpack, putting the orb inside, and then repacking all of your stuff back in; and once again you push this solution out of your mind, deciding you simply don't have the time. You decide the best course of action would be to carry the orb out by hand after all. And so you pick the heavy orb back up off of the ground with a great heave-ho and turn your attention towards the exit once more.

You walk over to the rim of the well-reservoir and put your right foot up on it, ready to rock your body forward and swing yourself up with the forward momentum. As you pick your left foot up off of the ground, you nearly lose your balance and go tumbling into the well; however, you clumsily pirouette around and just barely manage to hold your balance. Torchic visibly breaths a sigh of relief at your nice save as you turn back around and peer down the corridor beyond the now-open doors. It looks like an ordinary stone hall, much like the ones you've been through before, although this one has a stone ceiling covering the hall for the first fifteen feet or so. The water splashing down over the doors occasionally reaches you, gradually moistening your dress. You can't stand here forever. With a hop that's far less graceful than you intended, what with your arms dangling before you with this heavy blue ball in them, you manage to land safely on the stone floor on the other side of the well. You can hear the roar of the water overhead as it flows from some unseen source, over the roof, and down into the well below and now behind you.

Torchic is still in the room behind you. He readies himself to follow by hopping up onto the lip of the well-reservoir. He perches there, however, unsure of whether he can safely continue or not. With waterfalls on either side of him and water below, he looks concerned. He chirps to you, catching your attention.

What do you do?

Pokémon in the area:
none

FFA Inventory:
x1 parchment
x1 blue orb
[/url][/size][/color]
It didn't really surprise her, or the sighing Torchic apparently, but this thing had not magically become lighter. In the world of Fizzy Bubbles, magical things happened, but heavy items in an object of doom deciding to give her a break... Was not one of them.

Alice almost dropped to her doom, but with a cocky little spin, she saved herself, and smirked at the feat. After a little mental torture and deliberation, the trainer was ready to go before she had drenched clothing weighing her down, too. However, a reminding chirp from Torchic drew her attention.

"Oh. Are you stuck?" She asked, frowning. He must have been afraid of the water. "You'll be alright, Torchic. It's just a bit of water. Use your Focus Energy to concentrate, then do a running Bounce. You'll make the gap, I promise." The girl said reassuringly, but braced herself incase she needed to hurry and return Torchic if he fell.

((Stats.))
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Old 08-07-2012, 06:47 PM   #94
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The Labyrinth of Koros
Meetan: You hear Torchic's chirping and turn around to see what's the matter. "Oh. Are you stuck?" you ask, frowning. Torchic seems to be afraid of the water. You encourage him to cross. "You'll be alright, Torchic. It's just a bit of water." Torchic looks from you to the water below him to the waterfalls on either side then back to you. He does this a few more times before staring at the stony floor past the well-reservoir and, as he has so many times before, shakes his little feathery rump as he coils energy into his legs and ...

"TOOOOR!" He leaps over the frankly none-too-wide well-reservoir and lands quite safely on the other side. He looks up at you, a mix of pride and embarrassment on his face, as he hurries to catch up with you. Together, the two of you set off down the corridor, the gentle roar of the waterfalls from the statue room falling away as you do.

The going isn't exactly easy. This big glass ball you're carrying weighs a ton. Well, not literally a ton, but it weighs a lot. You can feel the lactic acid burning in your arms, as if rigid steel rods were being driven into them like spikes. The rods are hot, they burn. But you don't put the ball down. You carry on through the path. You believe this ball is necessary for something. A puzzle, perhaps. Or a key to a locked door, maybe. Something. Anything. Because your arms are so very tired from your hour of rock climbing which ended not even half an hour ago, you try to carry the ball in the most efficient manner. But it's slow going. You can't walk at a brisk pace through the maze now, let alone run.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNNGHGH!"

You hear the roar of the unseen beast. It sounds somewhat farther away than before. You hope, optimistically, that it may still be by the drained pool. You can't be certain though. For all you know it's soon to arrive in the statue room. Or perhaps it's already turned around and is coming at you from a different direction? Who can say. Certainly not you. You're not a bat or an owl and you don't have any Pokémon who could try to estimate how far away that animal is just based on the loudness of its roaring. In fact, without a baseline estimate, like knowing how loud it sounds when it's right before you, even Pokémon who echolocate could have a hard time trying to tell how far away the mysterious Krakikron is. But the knowledge that it's still in this maze with you is good enough to keep you going.

The path winds and weaves a few times but with no breaks in the wall. Torchic walks alongside you, looking up at his trainer, trying to deduce what is going through her mind right now, then turns back to look ahead. On and on the path winds, then ...

You come to your first break in the wall. The path continues on in a straight line, but to your left is an opening. It looks like the wall has crumbled here. Perhaps it wasn't meant to be an opening; or perhaps it was but the edges of the wall have fallen away over time and leave it looking more rugged than it should. Further down the hall, you can see another opening, this time in the right wall. This opening is clearly manmade. In the direction of this second opening, you can faintly hear a noise. Wailing? From your current position it's hard to make out. You look all the way down the hallway. It goes on for quite some distance before coming to a wall face. Perhaps it twists to the left; perhaps it twists to the right; or perhaps it is a dead end. You can't tell from your current position: you would have to walk down there to find out.

What do you do?

Pokémon in the area:
none

FFA Inventory:
x1 parchment
x1 blue orb


The Tale of the Wishmakers:
lilbluecorsola:
latest update here
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Old 08-07-2012, 07:05 PM   #95
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The Labyrinth of Koros
Meetan: You hear Torchic's chirping and turn around to see what's the matter. "Oh. Are you stuck?" you ask, frowning. Torchic seems to be afraid of the water. You encourage him to cross. "You'll be alright, Torchic. It's just a bit of water." Torchic looks from you to the water below him to the waterfalls on either side then back to you. He does this a few more times before staring at the stony floor past the well-reservoir and, as he has so many times before, shakes his little feathery rump as he coils energy into his legs and ...

"TOOOOR!" He leaps over the frankly none-too-wide well-reservoir and lands quite safely on the other side. He looks up at you, a mix of pride and embarrassment on his face, as he hurries to catch up with you. Together, the two of you set off down the corridor, the gentle roar of the waterfalls from the statue room falling away as you do.

The going isn't exactly easy. This big glass ball you're carrying weighs a ton. Well, not literally a ton, but it weighs a lot. You can feel the lactic acid burning in your arms, as if rigid steel rods were being driven into them like spikes. The rods are hot, they burn. But you don't put the ball down. You carry on through the path. You believe this ball is necessary for something. A puzzle, perhaps. Or a key to a locked door, maybe. Something. Anything. Because your arms are so very tired from your hour of rock climbing which ended not even half an hour ago, you try to carry the ball in the most efficient manner. But it's slow going. You can't walk at a brisk pace through the maze now, let alone run.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNNGHGH!"

You hear the roar of the unseen beast. It sounds somewhat farther away than before. You hope, optimistically, that it may still be by the drained pool. You can't be certain though. For all you know it's soon to arrive in the statue room. Or perhaps it's already turned around and is coming at you from a different direction? Who can say. Certainly not you. You're not a bat or an owl and you don't have any Pokémon who could try to estimate how far away that animal is just based on the loudness of its roaring. In fact, without a baseline estimate, like knowing how loud it sounds when it's right before you, even Pokémon who echolocate could have a hard time trying to tell how far away the mysterious Krakikron is. But the knowledge that it's still in this maze with you is good enough to keep you going.

The path winds and weaves a few times but with no breaks in the wall. Torchic walks alongside you, looking up at his trainer, trying to deduce what is going through her mind right now, then turns back to look ahead. On and on the path winds, then ...

You come to your first break in the wall. The path continues on in a straight line, but to your left is an opening. It looks like the wall has crumbled here. Perhaps it wasn't meant to be an opening; or perhaps it was but the edges of the wall have fallen away over time and leave it looking more rugged than it should. Further down the hall, you can see another opening, this time in the right wall. This opening is clearly manmade. In the direction of this second opening, you can faintly hear a noise. Wailing? From your current position it's hard to make out. You look all the way down the hallway. It goes on for quite some distance before coming to a wall face. Perhaps it twists to the left; perhaps it twists to the right; or perhaps it is a dead end. You can't tell from your current position: you would have to walk down there to find out.

What do you do?

Pokémon in the area:
none

FFA Inventory:
x1 parchment
x1 blue orb
Alice grinned, giggling down at the mixed face her Torchic pulled as he caught up with her, waiting for him to make most of the distance before continuing onward. Unlike her usual self, though, she was quiet: the physical exhaustion was weighing on her - like that darned ball - and her arms and hands were in pain. It was like she could feel the inner damage occurring as a result, and the teenager tried to bring some relief by shifting her hold here and there, but it never did much good.

"You know, those trips to the Pokespa were pointless for you," The girl told her Pokemon offhandedly, noticing that the little bird was peering up at her. The explanation was cut off by the sudden roar, which made her tremble and stop on the spot, needing a moment to recollect her nerves. If she dropped the sphere now, she would regret it. Everything in this labyrinth had a purpose, the trainer was sure of that, and finding out that it was necessary for her escape and survival and having to race back to get it in this condition was not possible. The suffering had to be endured. This short bout of pain was nothing in comparison to a lifetime of lazing around and adventuring in safer places, and everything else one could do with their years.

"What I mean is," Alice continued finally, moving onwards again, shaking like a leaf, "Is that you're a bundle of cuteness anyway, so all those sweets were wasted on you! I bet they were nice to munch on, though."

Falling back into silence, endless walls surrounded them for a time. She had no idea how much time had passed, but to her, it felt like it was passing quickly. It felt like the world was moving too quickly for her to keep up, and that the Krakikron would be onto her in no time at all. Finally, though, the duo came upon a wall with a crumbled gap in it, and another one with some sound further to the right. There was a sound coming from it - a worrying one, too, at that - but it was better than nothing.

"Hold on, let's check out our choices before we try to haul things about." Alice said, finally allowing herself to carefully put the blue orb on the ground, the strain emphasised more now that it had been let go. The freedom this brought, though, was wonderful, and she stretched and flopped her arms about before going to investigate.

((Stats.))
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Old 08-07-2012, 07:32 PM   #96
Talon87
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The Labyrinth of Koros
Meetan: You put the ball down on the ground. Torchic hurries over to make sure it doesn't roll off but it gently rolls into a groove between stones in the floor and settles nicely. Oh man does it feel good to put that ball down! You stretch and flop your arms about, enjoying the sweet release from carrying that heavy ball, however transient it might be. Still, the feeling of the iron rods in your arm hasn't gone away: it's just not quite as bad as before. You prepare to investigate these curious breaks in the wall; however, you can't be in three places all at once and there's no telling how far any one of these might go on for.

OoC: Do you decide to just peek your head into each one of the three path options to see what you can see? Or do you choose to fully explore one of them first to its natural end, and if so, which one?

What do you do?

Pokémon in the area:
none

FFA Inventory:
x1 parchment
x1 blue orb


The Tale of the Wishmakers:
lilbluecorsola:
latest update here
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Old 08-07-2012, 09:02 PM   #97
Meetan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
The Labyrinth of Koros
Meetan: You put the ball down on the ground. Torchic hurries over to make sure it doesn't roll off but it gently rolls into a groove between stones in the floor and settles nicely. Oh man does it feel good to put that ball down! You stretch and flop your arms about, enjoying the sweet release from carrying that heavy ball, however transient it might be. Still, the feeling of the iron rods in your arm hasn't gone away: it's just not quite as bad as before. You prepare to investigate these curious breaks in the wall; however, you can't be in three places all at once and there's no telling how far any one of these might go on for.

OoC: Do you decide to just peek your head into each one of the three path options to see what you can see? Or do you choose to fully explore one of them first to its natural end, and if so, which one?

What do you do?

Pokémon in the area:
none

FFA Inventory:
x1 parchment
x1 blue orb
Alice glanced at the break that the orb had safely rolled into, then back to the one ahead. "Torchic, take one of these paths and run along a bit, will you? Then meet me back here, and let me know if it's a dead end or not." She ordered, allowing her Pokemon through first before going into the opening, heading off to the left. She'd walk along for a bit, and see if it went on for very long or not, and if it was a short stretch, perhaps even venture to see what lay beyond. "If there's any trouble, come straight back to the start, alright?!"

Last edited by Meetan; 08-08-2012 at 06:41 AM.
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Old 08-08-2012, 08:29 AM   #98
Talon87
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The Labyrinth of Koros
Meetan: You peek your head into the opening to the left of the path. You see what looks like another hallway, just like this one, only it ends in a dead end to the right only about twenty feet away. You turn your head to the left to look the other way and see that the hallway stretches on for a bit before rounding a corner. Turning your head back to look ahead of you, you can see another large break similar to the one you're standing in right now about three feet to the right. You don't see or hear anything else in particular.

Pulling back to the main hallway, you see Torchic running back towards you. It looks like he chose to investigate where the main hallway leads to. When you ask him what he found, he conveys to you that the hallway turns a corner to the right at the very end and that it continues on and on for quite a ways.

The opening to the right is as yet unexplored. The wailing is faint but you can still hear it. Aside from that, the maze is silent save for your breathing and the infrequent scratching of Torchic's talons on stone.

The blue glass orb is still on the floor where you left it.

What do you do?

Pokémon in the area:
none

FFA Inventory:
x1 parchment
x1 blue orb


The Tale of the Wishmakers:
lilbluecorsola:
latest update here
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Old 08-08-2012, 01:41 PM   #99
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
The Labyrinth of Koros
Meetan: You peek your head into the opening to the left of the path. You see what looks like another hallway, just like this one, only it ends in a dead end to the right only about twenty feet away. You turn your head to the left to look the other way and see that the hallway stretches on for a bit before rounding a corner. Turning your head back to look ahead of you, you can see another large break similar to the one you're standing in right now about three feet to the right. You don't see or hear anything else in particular.

Pulling back to the main hallway, you see Torchic running back towards you. It looks like he chose to investigate where the main hallway leads to. When you ask him what he found, he conveys to you that the hallway turns a corner to the right at the very end and that it continues on and on for quite a ways.

The opening to the right is as yet unexplored. The wailing is faint but you can still hear it. Aside from that, the maze is silent save for your breathing and the infrequent scratching of Torchic's talons on stone.

The blue glass orb is still on the floor where you left it.

What do you do?

Pokémon in the area:
none

FFA Inventory:
x1 parchment
x1 blue orb
Alice did her investigating, finding one dead end, and another that stretched around a corner. She went back to find Torchic running towards her, listening to his sweet chirps and flapping of his little wings, finding that the main corridor carried on for a while.

"We still have one path left that we didn't check." She reminded him, indicating the final route to the right. The girl glanced at the blue orb, pondering whether she was up for another round of pain or not. Deciding that was a no, and that it would be safe there, the girl called 'Come on, Torchic!' before going briskly down the unexplored walkway, curious to see if that brought her anywhere soon, or if she would have to make a more dedicated decision about where to go... With that damned blue orb in tow.

((Stats.))
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Old 08-08-2012, 09:51 PM   #100
Talon87
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The Labyrinth of Koros
Meetan: After Torchic reports in with what he found at the end of the main hallway, you decide to explore the third and final option before you. A quick glance on approach reveals that the path immediately curls off to the left: to the right end of the opening and straight ahead of it are flush walls. The path leading left, initially parallel with the main hallway you're standing in right now, quickly makes a 90° turn to the right. If you want to see what lies beyond, you'll have to go in and explore.

You think about your options. There are three ways you could go: to the left of the original path through the large rugged opening, to the right of the original path through this portal here, or straight down the original path until it veers off to the right for sights unseen. Then in addition to these options is the separate matter of the orb. You look at it, sitting there motionless on the ground. You consider various factors and ultimately decide that it would be best to leave the ball there, just for now while you explore. It's too heavy, you decide, to carry on this exploration. You'll just have to come back for it once you've reached the end of this mini-adventure. Well, assuming you can find your way back, that is. This is a maze, after all, and you don't have anything with you which could help you to keep track of where you've been or where you're going. All the same, -- "Come on, Torchic!" -- you call to your Pokémon and together the two of you set off at a brisk pace through the opening to the right. You quickly turn left as you pass through, march straight toward the corner, hang a right and ...

Ten feet in front of you is another wall face. To the left is still more wall, but to the right the path continues. You hear the wailing again. It's much more audible than before. You decide to press on around this corner; and so, turning right, you come upon the next short stretch of hallway. This one is a little longer, and you can see at the end of it that there are two ways you could go: to the left or to the right. As you face this direction, the wailing seems to be coming from your left.

What do you do?

Pokémon in the area:
a Combee lazily flying towards the path leading right

FFA Inventory:
x1 parchment
x1 blue orb (left behind on floor of hallway)


The Tale of the Wishmakers:
lilbluecorsola:
latest update here
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