NOVEMBER EVENT LOG

[teamboba]

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NOVEMBER LOG

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In the aftermath of the rampage, the city of Mango starts to put itself back together, mourning losses of its citizens and Pokemon which would have been much heavier if the calamity hadn't suddenly and mysteriously stopped. The static in the air, which the citizens had gotten so used to to the point of no longer noticing it, is now gone and the silence is almost palpable, so obvious in comparison. Even the sandstorm to the west has started to die down, so that every crunch of heel on gravel can be heard as relief pours from Toran to Mango City, volunteers empathetic and eager to return the favor, however unfortunate that the opportunity had to be this soon.

The ghost Pokemon linger for a while, helping to guide the souls of the dead to the afterlife before they disperse back into the forest, while the cemetery stands still and silent save for those working on restoring the graves and fixing structural damages. Both towers remain closed to the public, the cemetery out of respect and the radio tower due to police investigation, with the staff called in for questioning but each denying knowledge of the radio signals having an adverse effect on the Pokemon. If there is anybody with that knowledge, it would be the company president, who is currently on leave elsewhere in the region and cannot be reached due to the storms and a conspicuously missing radio antenna preventing physical and electronic communication respectively. Maybe you guys will come across him later, maybe not. Maybe he got caught up in that volcano explosion you let happen. Who knows? haha!

Either way... people are welcome to remain in Mango as long as they want, and Toran seems to be fully up and running as well. Those who make the trip back to check up on how things are going will find the island to be warm and sunny, townspeople hard at work sowing the berry gardens and expanding the daycare center, where extra Pokemon will be sent to once the maximum limit of six Pokemon in a team has been met. Several missing children posters remain hung up around the daycare, but the island feels fuller, happier, with sounds of children laughing and yelling as they rush to the game corner to pool their tokens to win the new month's prize Pokemon: Swinub which know the move Rock Smash.

But for those who have decided to push forward, the only way forward is to the west, into the sandstorm towards Melona.

→ ICHI WE MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU

(click to expand - with all our hearts)

Even without raging sandstorms, the desert is rough travel and there is no reliable map to get from one place to another, especially with the way the wind naturally and occasionally picks up to start sandstorms, and it's so easy to get turned around by the wind and the cliffs and the way everything is sand for miles and miles and miles around. Little Gale King is eager to go home, looking around for somebody who will act as her guardian so they can travel with a guide straight to Melona. While taking a guide can be a bit expensive, groups up to six people can travel together for the same group price and they are guaranteed safe passage, provided with thick capes to keep the sand from buffeting them, goggles to help them see, and rental Numel to ride upon so they don't have to make the trek on foot.

The trip from Mango to Melona takes several hours, with occasional pit stops during which the guide pitches a large tent for everybody to rest in or to wait out a particularly heavy sandstorm before continuing on, but if they leave early enough in the day, they will eventually come across a huge stone dome in the middle of the desert, spanning several miles in diameter. Around the perimeter of the dome are several gates that can be opened from either side via hand cranks that require two people to operate, the thick stone walls of the dome protecting the desert town from the sun and the sand. At the apex of the dome is an open oculus that allows sunlight to shine down upon the town, and during the day, a constant beam of light illuminates the boba shop located at the very center of Melona. This shop's specialty flavor is Cacnea flower tea and its collectible stamp is a yellow Sandshrew! The boba shop is where the guides make a beeline to once everybody has been dropped off, the employees at the shop glad to hear the news that the sandstorm isn't as bad as it was in the recent month or two, but they also don't seem all that concerned about the outside world, nor were they aware of how bad things really were, with how isolated they are within this dome in the middle of the desert. Tsunamis? Volcanoes? Rampaging Pokemon? The citizens are pretty horrified, actually, and promise to send help to both Mango and Toran when the guides have rested up and are able to make the return journey.

In the meanwhile, Melona is a pretty quiet town, with everything quite scattered and far apart, less streets and more individual buildings with packed dirt paths connecting them. Next to the boba shop near the center of town is the Pokemon center which features a clinic space for people in lieu of an actual hospital, and flanking the Pokemon center on either side is the contest hall and psychic-type Pokemon gym, although the gym leader is currently absent and thus the gym is closed. Apparently it's not uncommon for him to wander off sometimes, but he has never been gone for weeks at a time and the people are getting worried. Is he lost? The last anybody heard, he had set out to find a mythical Pokemon rumored to be in the area, investigating a possible link to the abnormally long and harsh sandstorms that picked up recently, but for as competent a trainer as he is the storm was no joke and the town has never seen anything like it before. The same worry is echoed at the Pokemon school, which takes students of all ages to teach them more about Pokemon, their relationships with humans, and everybody's place in the world; several field trip groups had departed weeks ago but must have gotten caught in the sandstorms as well because they haven't yet returned. Gale is immediately concerned, and, asking around, learns that her little brother Jordan had gone on one of those field trips, and both their parents had gone with him as chaperones.

Hopefully good news will come in time, and the townspeople are patient, going about their daily business with a certain calm. For those who wish to earn some money, there is an abundance of odd jobs hiring both people and Pokemon, especially asking for Pokemon suited to specific tasks such as fire Pokemon to help cook and keep fires going at night for warmth and light, water Pokemon to water the fields and ground Pokemon to help till, flying Pokemon to check the dome for cracks to repair, fast Pokemon to make mail deliveries around town, hardy Pokemon to weather the sandstorms and keep a lookout for anybody approaching, for example. For those who looked at October and went "That was not a break month, what the heck," other places of interest include the museum containing many specimens of ancient Pokemon preserved in fossils and amber found right in the surrounding desert, offering rare items in exchange for more specimens, and... that's it, really. It's a quiet, sleepy town.

The days are hot and the nights are long, but when the sun goes down and the electricity is shut off overnight, the view above is spectacular. Thousands upon thousands of stars can be seen overhead, sparkling like diamonds in the pitch black of the oculus, while candle lit rock salt lamps line the street sides to provide a soft, temptingly lickable, warm glow below.

→ ICHI WRITES ALL THESE HEADERS

(click to expand - Ori headers are just like this haha)

But perhaps you're not the sort to just sit around and wait for things to happen. Perhaps you're the sort to dive headfirst into trouble despite the multiple danger warnings. Perhaps you were just foolhardy enough to have ventured into the desert from Mango without a guide, thinking that you could save a few bucks and make an adventure out of finding Melona all on your own. Those leaving Melona may be stopped by townspeople on the outskirts offering to sell them escape ropes, which will allow them to escape the ruins and appear right in front of them again if they're ever caught in a sticky situation, along with other food, water, and camping supplies. One man in particular suggests catching an Abra to teleport you right back to Melona— or if you prefer, he is also offering to trade one of his own.

Those leaving Mango are out of luck.

Either way, even if it takes days (and if you're wandering blindly, it's going to take days), you will eventually come across one of the ruins scattered throughout the desert. Hopefully you came prepared, not only for the travel, but for whatever awaits inside the ruins! The ruins look like this, aka the first thing that pops up in Google Images, but while some of the pillars still stand, most have collapsed and lay buried in the sand, presumably due to the massive sandstorm that raged the entire month prior. The sand is soft and hard to walk on, constantly shifting over uneven ground and quite a bit of digging might be required to locate hidden underground entrances or other secrets. The ancient ruins seem to be a bit unstable, with evidence of cave-ins here and there, the potential for further cave-ins the deeper inside the ruins one ventures, and with the lack of light and constantly branching halls, one could be stuck down here forever exploring the labyrinths underneath the ruins. Maybe you'll never escape. Maybe you'll live and die here, and get to do just that (:

No wild Pokemon can be found without thirty feet of any of the surface ruins. Every few hours, a slight tremor can briefly be felt underfoot, barely noticeable at the start of the month and becoming somewhat concerning as the month progresses. Everything is fine.

→ MOD NOTES

⬥ It's November!! Somehow! When I'm at work and am writing dates, sometimes I autopilot 2010 and sometimes it's 2021 and ig I just want everything to be over.
⬥ Ruins investigations are currently capped at two investigations per player to allow your mods space to breathe, but is likely to be lifted as the month progresses and investigations wrap up. As a hint, it would be highly worthwhile to investigate the area and question npcs first, and in particular find the gym leader, before heading into the ruins! If you do decide to run blindly into the ruins, though, we'll have a good time (:
⬥ As a reminder, the gym leader must be located and brought back to the gym before any challenges can take place. The contest hall, on the other hand, is open from the start of the month. For both, please comment on the appropriate toplevel for submissions!
⬥ Please comment to the new Pokemon toplevel for trading with the NPC, making a note of which Pokemon you would like to trade for his Abra. As a reminder, traded Pokemon are able to gain +15 levels a month through bonus activity, and traded Abras are able to evolve into its final evolution, Alakazam.
⬥ As an alternative to the daycare in Toran, Pokemon can also be given jobs around Melona if they aren't in your main party. OOCly, players are allowed to give each of their Pokemon +5 levels (not counting towards the bonus activity level cap) one time only for this month, regardless of the number of jobs the Pokemon takes. ICly, the Pokemon will be unavailable for one week while they're at work, so please be mindful of which Pokemon are available in your threads at what time of month! Please also be aware of the badge/ribbon requirements for higher level Pokemon to continue obeying, applicable to the total number of unique badges/ribbons in the travelling group.

Comments

[scension]

Rhel notices Sandshrew trying to escape as soon as they're shoved inside, so she tells Ralts to use Hypnosis on the Sandshrew to put it to sleep.
Hana-chan also uses Hypnosis on the Sandshrew after hearing that, in case Ralts's fails.
Joss's Drampa uses Protect to try and hold the collapsing rocks off the party to some extent, like Fai's magic did in the earlier investigation.
Sagi tells Marshtomp to use Protect after Drampa does, and Sigilyph to send a Gust out through the cavern mouth to try to clear the sandstorm. They'll all try to exit quickly and pursue the Sandshrew if Protect shields them enough and they can see the way out.
Toki panics loudly.

[teamboba]

Sandshrew peacefully zzzzs while everybody tries not to die. The Woobat are screeching because of all this commotion, but they've decided they don't want to get caught in a cave-in either, so while some of them try to escape through the opening and get buffered around by the Gust, most of them stay within the cavern to wait it out until everything stops happening. Eventually, everybody makes it out in one piece, and the dust settles. The cavern is half collapsed, but not completely, so the Woobats aren't trapped and require a separate rescue mission.

Sandshrew is still asleep. For all the twists and turns they've gone through to get here, they're not entirely sure how to get back to the entrance, but are also unsure whether it's worth pursuing this path that was clearly meant to a sabotage. Will they wake the Sandshrew up to ask it anything, or leave it asleep? The jewel on its headband got slightly cracked in the commotion, bust is still very shiny- it seems to be flashing, almost. Taking a closer look, there seems to be a blinking light inside the now obviously fake jewel, which blinks more rapidly the closer Hana-chan is to the Sandshrew.

What will they do?

[scension]

Seeing the light inside the cracked jewel, Hana-chan takes off her own headband and angrily flings it as far down the tunnel as she can, because it's clearly evil.

The rest of them decide to question the Sandshrew when it wakes up for lack of any other leads, because what the fuck! what the fuck!!! Rhel's Ralts volunteers for emotion-based partial interpreting if need be, like with Golem before. At the first sign of it trying to escape again, they intend to trap it with Marshtomp's Whirlpool until it becomes clear whether or not they're going to get anything out of questioning it.

Before it wakes up, Joss tries to remove Sandshrew's headband in case it's a brainwashing device of some kind. He checks the fake jewel for any signs of mechanical parts, and if not, passes it around the group for the others to take a look, including Toki the one (1) character present who knows what non fantasy jrpg machines look like.

If the Sandshrew isn't awake by then, Ralts can try to gently psychically wake it up.

[teamboba]

The headband flies across the cavern and hits the ground, the fake plastic jewel cracking and the light inside blinking much slower that it was just a second prior. When Joss removes Sandshrew's headband, he can see the light inside the jewel is next to what looks like a lens. Can Toki deduce that it's a camera? I don't know! But I'm telling you guys that it's a camera. Somebody out there is watching them, and listening in on them too. If somebody retrieves Hana-chan's headband, which they should, they will see that the same device is inside the jewel in that headband, and that the red light flashes faster when the two headbands are brought close together. Please please use this detail to your advantage.

The Sandshrew of course tries to escape the moment it wakes up, but the threat of a whirlpool is enough to keep it still. Ralts can pick up that it's very scared! Obviously, because of the whirlpool. If I had a four-year-old npc available, I would have had them say something about Pokemon not being inherently evil, but sometimes they do bad things because their trainer tells them to and they love their trainer. Ralts gets and conveys the sense that Sandshrew was just following orders, which was to get rid of anybody asking around for the missing students.

Is there anything specific they would ask the Sandshrew? What do they want to do next?

[scension]

Toki recognises it as a camera! After babbling about robots, viruses and kidnappers at 200mph for 84 years he tells the others that the lights were blinking faster when brought together and if the kids were kidnapped they're probably being monitored too, so they should use the headbands as tracking devices to find the missing kids. Sometimes he is smart.

Hearing this, Joss takes both headbands and his Pokemon and wanders off down the tunnel in what he thinks is the direction they arrived in. Maybe they will flash even faster if he aimlessly wanders past the right spot! Mostly he wants to get both headbands out of earshot.

Sagi still has Marshtomp out, who is still threatening Sandshrew with a whirlpool to stop it trying to run away again.

Rhel asks Sandshrew, if they stop threatening it with a whirlpool, would it lead them to the kids properly? The kids have family and Pokemon who love them just as much and miss them, and want them to come home. She is very worried about her poor Murkrow now. Please please let Mheg be safe!!! (Fae adds: please!!!!!!) She is still asking Ralts to interpret for her.

[teamboba]

Bless Toki for sometimes being smart.

When Joss walks towards the direction they arrived in, and ...it's kind of hard to tell! If he's holding both headbands, they will blink quickly no matter where he walks, because those two headbands are next to each other and are reacting off one another. If they destroy one headband and let the other one react to the other headbands in existence, they could then use it as a tracking device. Walking towards the direction they arrived from, the light will blink faster since it's picking up on the headband presumably on Rhel's Murkrow; if they head the other direction, it eventually starts blinking faster due to picking up a signal from a different headband- maybe whoever is monitoring the kids!

I am not exactly sure what you mean by getting the headbands out of earshot so please let me know if I'm reading any of this incorrectly. But right now they have a viable plan of either 1) using a headband to return to where Jules is and go "hey what the fuck" at him, or 2) using a headband to track down some other shady guy who might be carrying one around. Or both, as long as the two headbands are kept separate.

Sandshrew seems a bit reluctant, even under the threat of the Whirlpool. Unfortunately, it doesn't know what Jules is doing with Mheg, but it whole heartedly stands by its trainer in trying to convey that what its trainer doing is very important! The kids will be okay! But they have a very important job to do first, and Sandshrew's job in keeping people from interfering is very important too. Considering the kidnapping and spying and backstabbing, the group should maybe know better, but Sandshrew honestly does trust in its trainer and does not have bad intentions.

[scension]

They can't take Sandshrew's "word" for it that everyone will be all right but it seems like it's too innocent and loyal to tell them anything else, so Ralts, Sigilyph and Hana-chan all use Hypnosis to put it back to sleep. Good night :(

Joss rejoins the group and explains at a rate of about 1 word per hour that the lights seem to react to each other too strongly to use as a tracking device and that he thinks using just one might work better. They pick one at random and have no good ideas for what to do with the extra one, so Sagi gets his Pokemon to smash it.

They then take option 2, heading away from the direction they arrived from to try and follow wherever the light is blinking fastest! They would like to find those kids! Whoever is spying on them will have an excellent view of Joss's grimly depressed face (it's his normal face).

[teamboba]

Zzzz goodnight, Sandshrew. Do they leave the Sandshrew behind when they move on?

Whoever is spying on them is very concerned about Joss' grimly depressed face. And they can tell somebody is spying on them because although the light blinks faster at the start, at some point the light doesn't blink as fast anymore, only changing if they've reached a fork in the road and have to decide which way to go. It looks like whoever they're chasing is on the move too! As they pick up the pace so they don't lose the target, the light suddenly starts to blink faster again. And faster and faster and fasterandfasterand-- they see a Numel lumbering towards them, blinking headband sitting on top of its head and sending a Flame Burst out at them. After defeating the Numel and continuing on, they are ambushed by a Golbat which attacks them with Air Cutter. They are ambushed two more times by Pokemon wearing headbands, when they come to a split in the path:

to the left is where their headband blinks the fastest, where the enemies are moving the kidnapped students and are currently trying to escape

to the right, a single set of small footprints can be seen leading from the left branch over to the right branch and into the darkness, and they look freshly made.

Which path will they prioritize? Will they stick together or split up?

[scension]

They leave Sandshrew behind when they get moving! Sweet dreams until you inevitably wake up and rejoin Asshole McGee, little murderball.

I'm sorry you have to deal with another group split: they are too concerned about their apparent enemies escaping to leave the left path alone, so Rhel splits off from the boys to go after the small footprints. Joss, Sagi and Toki go left, taking the headband with them.

[teamboba]

Sandshrew has a very nice dream about playing tag with all its little Sandshrew friends in the desert and then wakes up and rejoins Asshole McGee and tells him what happened and now he's going to run away too, bye Asshole, bye Mheg. I'm kidding. I wouldn't do that to Rhel. When Jules escapes, he collapses the entrance and Mheg manages to escape so he can fly around the ruins but not interfere with anything inside.

Joss, Sagi, and Toki get to battle more evil Pokemon! Eventually they're able to catch up with the men that kidnapped the students, defeat the remaining Pokemon in a battle, and rescue the students while the men use escape ropes and retreat.

Rhel, on the other hand, finds a young child who is a little wary of her first, but then opens up when she explains who she is and that she's here to rescue the students. He says his name is Jordan and he had originally wandered off from the group because he wanted to find something special to take home to his sister who is stuck in a hospital out of town and couldn't go on the field trip, but then some bad men came and took his classmates away. He had managed to stay hidden this whole time, but overheard the men saying things like "if only the little punks came more cooperatively" and "don't even realize what a noble cause they're gonna be a part of" and "should've picked them off one by one like the Toran branch did."

Either way, they're able to reunite again, and following a head count, learn that one student is still missing. No matter how much they search these ruins or the others, they will not be able to find this student. Please let me know if they would ask any other questions, otherwise this will conclude the investigation and I can reply with your rewards from the student council.

[scension]

Rhel: gives Jordan a BIG HUG (IMPORTANT), tells him she's here on behalf of his sister and parents who are waiting for him at home, then goes to rejoin the group. If Mheg can find her as she's heading back, she will be very relieved!!! and ask him if he can tell them if anything happened with Jules while they were gone. Does he still have a headband on? Either way, once back in Melona, she will report everything she's found out about this apparent villain team to the local Setos.

Sagi and Joss: don't know that it's futile to search the ruins some more for the missing kid, so they'll want to know who's missing, what they look like and if anyone remembers where they were seen last. They will quickly check around the area they found the students, plus whatever location the missing student was seen in if anyone does remember - they won't find the student, but did the escaping villains leave anything else behind, or is there anything else of note? It's just a cursory look around because they don't want to get left here while everyone else goes home with the guide, nor do they want to hold everyone up for long.

Toki: screams. He will continue screaming loudly and panicking until they get out of the ruins and return to town.

They will try to use Ralts's Teleport to get everybody out at once because that seems easier, but if that doesn't work then one of them will Escape Rope out to ask the guide outside for help while the others lead everyone back to the entrance.

[teamboba]

Mheg and Jules played tic tac toe in the sand until Sandshrew got back. Mheg proudly reports that he won twelve of their twenty games! He still has a headband on. While the camera still works, it is unknown if anybody is still monitoring them from the other side, and unfortunately, it will no longer flash following this investigation, seeing as the organization is aware outsiders have figured out how it works and have to ditch the plan. The local Setos take diligent notes on everything Rhel can tell them, and promise to pass on that information to the other towns they have reestablished contact with (Mango and Toran).

The missing child is a young girl around ten years old, and the students give them her name and description, etc, and say that she was with them just a while ago, but then the Pokemon battle happened and the evil men started escaping and one of them must have taken her with them. Looking around the area or the rest of the ruins, there is nothing of note left behind.

The children are all very distressed by Toki's screaming. Some of them start crying.

Everybody goes home and gets signed up for therapy and the school committee thanks the group with a Dawn Stone, Shiny Stone, Sun Stone, and Moon Stone to share amongst themselves as they see fit.