Main Action and Team Status Thread [VICTORY!!!]

[Neo Emolga]

Noting that Shieldbearer canceled the assassination.

...I had an idea. Search number 44, Serenity Town Bank.

You arrive at Serenity Town Bank, which is definitely one of the more fancier and well-kept buildings in Serenity Town, even though it is somewhat isolated away from the center of town. The white stone walls, columns, and ornate designs definitely indicate that Leblanc is very rich and is avid to flash that fact around.

You search the interior of the bank, which is also ornate with its marble floors, fine oak furniture, and cleanliness. The bank doesn't have too much activity here, but as you can tell, it doesn't really need to. Without a doubt, financially it would be the last establishment to go under if Serenity Town suffered complete economic collapse.

Despite your searches, you don't find anything suspicious in the interior of the building. Some of Leblanc's financial practices may be legal, but aren't ethical, nor are they compassionate. From what you can find in the ledgers, quite a few Pokémon owe money to her and you definitely get a clear idea those debts won't be forgiven the charitable way.

You search the outside of the building, scoping the perimeter until you find a disturbance in the ground that looks like it the ground was dug up only recently. You remove the dirt from the area to find what appears to be a black stone in the shape of a starflower.

You turn it over and there seems to be an inscription on the back:

"...And then Death comes, the flower wilts, and fades to black."

You take the flower stone with you.

Item: [Black Flower Stone] has been added to the Team Inventory.

[Neo Emolga]

THAT...Was a trip.



I have a bad feeling I shouldn't have done that, but hopefully the hallucinations are the worst of it. If not...Ehehe, well...Eh.



...I search #18, Casha's Pottery. I just kind of want to do something less...Exciting for a while after that.

You search Casha's Pottery, which seems to be a middle-class kind of establishment that Casha seems to keep impeccably clean despite the fact her business often involves getting her paws dirty all the time.

Inside, the store sells hundreds of pots, jugs, vases, bowls, cups, plates, and plenty of other clay containers in all kinds of sizes, shapes, collections, and arrangements. The store floor is absolutely devoid of any debris, dirt, and dust to the point of almost looking sterilized. The back rooms where Casha keeps her potter's wheel, sculpting knives and tools, and other pottery equipment are also very clean and it's clear Casha takes extreme care to make sure everything is impeccably clean after each use.

It also seems like her furniture is the same way, in that she can't seem to tolerate a single thing being dirty, even for just a short while. It almost makes you wonder why she became a potter considering it's definitely not a very clean profession, but you have a feeling her love and passion for sculpting are the only thing that outweigh her feelings about cleanliness.

You search upstairs in her living area, and while the desire for cleanliness continues up here as well, there isn't anything that causes any alarm. Her furniture is very neat and there isn't any trace of clutter in her living area.

You search the outside perimeter as well, keeping a lookout for any disturbances in the ground near the building. However, Casha's home and business are clean and don't seem to have anything that was stashed here recently.

[The Nonexistent Tazz]

OK, I wasam going to talk to Zick, but honestly I just feel like searching places right now, something low-tension. Let's hit up #19, Doctor Rulend's Home.

Hello, Deputy Zick. Err, we're still recent here and we don't know everyone who's died. It might help to know a comprehensive list of Stalker Deaths, if you have one and we could have it.

Also, while I'm at it-what do you know of Adis? He seemed awfully active since the Stalkers arrived, from what we've heard.

...Oh, and I just thought of this, but I heard there was a watchman you tried to use to stalk out Non, the one who does the drowning? Who was the watchman, again? Sorry for so many questions, I fear that you might get on their hit list in a bad, bad way...

[Neo Emolga]

So I don't think this has been done, but someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

I use the XX Key on the Locked Front Door, XX emblem at (48) Diante's Guild (Abandoned). Hope that opens that nasty door!

You insert the [XX Key] into the keyhole of the {Locked Front Door, XX emblem}, turn it, and it unlocks the door. You then push the door to swing it open...

...and you're greeted with numbers. Numbers everywhere. All over the ceiling, floor, and walls, as if a math textbook exploded and its numerical contents splattered all over the walls in the form of chalk, charcoal, and paint digits, numerals, and mathematical equations.

But after a second look, you see patterns to the numbers. You're able to group them together and it seems to be a myriad of calculations behind them rather than thrown about violently and haphazardly without rhyme or reason. Statistics. Probabilities. Calculations. Tallies. Many of them don't make sense, but some of them seem to say something.

On one wall, it appears whoever was here was calculating time based on when sunlight came through the window at particular times of the day, gauging it against probability, and trying to employ confidence intervals, outliers, and other statistical records while logging the findings. Other walls have tallies of numbers, but the numbers represent things you're simply not aware of and you're not sure what they mean. Just looking at them makes you feel like they're a connection to the Stalkers, but you're not sure what the numbers are saying.

Amongst the many numerals, you find what appears to be a pair of large stone ears. You instantly recognize them as a Victini's with their long size and shape. You take them with you.

Item: [Victini Statue Ears] has been added to the Team Inventory.

[Chibi Altaria]

Time to search! I wonder if I can get the...dirt on this lizard's farm. Hurhur.

Search (27) Prat's Farm.

[AWA1997]

Interview #14 Jurak the Haxorus

[Dash]

Well, since it just kind of got passed by and I feel like its important, I'd like to interview 47. Shawl the Bibarel.

[Neo Emolga]

As I depart the house, I spot #16 Rashna. "Excuse me, but could you answer a few questions I have about recent events?"

I ask her about the recent events, explain what we have found so far, and if she knows anything that could help our cause into solving this mystery.

Interview Rapport: VERY POSITIVE
+1 Shared Pokémon Type (Electric)
+1 Shared Pokémon Evolution Stage

You follow the leads that allow you to discover Rashna the Flaaffy is a reading and English teacher at the school. You meet with her just outside, and you introduce yourself to her.

"Why hello, Lita," Rashna greets you with a smile. "What can I help you with?"

You ask her about the situation with the Stalkers, and she nods with a slight grimace, knowing it's definitely a very grim subject for her. She sighs, looks away for a moment as she gathers her thoughts, and then looks back to you.

"These Stalkers will go after anyone," Rashna tells you, looking a bit pale. "From the older Pokémon to the very young. There's something very wrong with this town and I usually don't like to talk about it, but... you're right, ignoring the problem will never solve it."

She takes a deep breath.

"Many of the children that were killed died... because of drowning," Rashna explains. "I tried to ask Zick just what pray tell was going on and what he found, but all he told me was it was someone called Non. Non, I mean who the devil could that be? Who would want to kill children?"

"Since then, I've been warning the students not to go near the lake," Rashna sighs, looking distraught. "But they just don't listen. And they haven't been telling me much either. I'm not sure if they're trying to cover for someone, or if this... 'Non' just somehow keeps eluding their scrutiny."

She suddenly looks like she remembers something and then turns to a blue handbag she's carrying with her.

"Lita, there's something Adis told me to hold onto, but I'm not sure what it's for," Rashna tells you, handing you a silver candle. "He gave me this strange candle, telling me to hold onto it until he came back for it. It feels... so different from other candles I've seen, so I feel like there's something important surrounding it, but I just don't know what. Please take it, because I'm sure you probably have a better idea what it's for than I do."

Item: [Silver Candle] has been added to the Team Inventory.

"I think there are several other Pokémon in town that were given one of these," Rashna explains. "I know Sharine, Adom, and Verlisa got one and I think there were two others. I wish... Adis told me what these were for and I'm sure he meant no harm in keeping these a secret, but with him gone, we just don't have the knowledge he did. But hopefully you will be able to learn something we just couldn't..."

[EmeraldSky]

"All right, thank you." Lita replies, pocketing the silver candle.

She then continues to (19) Doctor Rulend's Home--maybe some medical evidence would help?

[Neo Emolga]

Let's go and search these Quiet Creek Apartments to see what we can find. We might find a keyhole to a key we've already found for that basement, or maybe it doesn't need a key.

You arrive before the abandoned Quiet Creek Apartments, which, as Dari the Raichu described, look like they could just completely collapse any day now. Most of the wood has rotted, the paint has chipped and fallen away in thousands of flakes, and there is dust, debris, rusted metal, splinters of wood, and rubble everywhere. Not even Serenity Town's local squatters wanted to try going to this place.

You search around the perimeter, but don't find anything out of place besides the usual pile of rubble and junk. If anything of value still remained after the last tenant left, you figure it has probably long deteriorated in this forlorn derelict.

You attempt to search the main level, which seems to be more of the same. Empty rooms that were cleared out long ago and haven't been inhabited for ages are all that seems to remain here from a first glance. As for the upper floors, you manage to search them only because of your small size and light weight. Most other Pokémon would have easily fallen through the floor or never would have made it up the crumbling wood staircase. But, even with your accessibility to the upper floors, you don't find anything out of the ordinary besides many ruined rooms that you are pretty convinced you may be the last Pokémon to ever visit them before the building completely collapses on itself.

You then search the hatch entrance that Dari mentioned. The metal hatch has been rusted over, but it still opens easily, oddly enough, as if someone recently fixed it and repurposed it for their own intentions. You climb down a ladder into a dimly-lit tunnel and you find it's a bloody mess with blood stains and splatter thrown about. As you soon realize, the ladder can be lowered up and down through a switch on the wall. You do the math and learn this terrible place was used to entrap Pokémon before killing them. And you can tell that unlike the rest of the building, this place has been recently used, and doesn't look like it has been forgotten about...

You continue down the short, macabre tunnel and arrive before a large, metal door. The blood-splattered door has some kind of depiction on it, and when you take a closer look, you see the door has a smiling Raichu father, a happy and content Raichu mother, and a cheerful Pichu child standing between them, as if it were a family photograph. However, the two Raichu and the Pichu have a open slot right where their heart would be. Below the three of them, there is an inscription here:

"The Magnate of Madness demands the unholy sacrifice of father, mother, and child."

It seems something morbid is needed to unlock this door...

Locked Door: {Underground Hall of the Mad, Heart Slot x3} has been noted in the Team Records.