The Jeweled Champions (and Friends) (IC thread)

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

Here we go on this epic (and headache inducing) adventure!


The main screen in the enclave blipped to life to show Brock and the table in the familiar game room where "The Jeweled Champions (and Friends)" was filmed. "And we're rolling camera--we have a little time before we get going, since everyone is still changing into costume." he assured the chat.

Once sure the main camera and the PC that controlled all the cameras, the main screen, sound effects, and music were ready, Brock brought over a large box full of Chambers and Charizards adventure books over to his dungeon master's nook before a question in the chat got his attention. "In addition to the three regulars, we have a few guests tonight. If you want to come play with us, drop us a message and we'll be happy to work out the details." he explained as he put up the addresses for the show's e-mail and different social media channels--Pokebook, Chitter, Memogram, and MyTube.

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Gary was not sure what he had been expecting, but this was not it. He had shown up with a family-sized bag of Nidoritos and quickly had been whisked inside to a room that looked like a professional studio stage, with cameras, computers, and equipment that he could only guess at. “I don’t think I gave Ashy-boy and his friends enough credit,” he said to himself.

Gary hugged the substantial bag of chips close to his chest unconsciously, and made his way over to Brock. “Hey!” he said brusquely. “What’s with all of the books and paper and stuff? I thought we were playing a game, not doing homework!” After a lightning-quick glance at the cameras, Gary asked in a low voice unlike his usual tone, “And what d’ya mean by ‘costume’?”

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

"But we are playing a game, my good sir!" Brock grinned. He was fairly used to Gary's brashness by now, and if the two rivals could get along, he allowed Gary to join the game. "This is a tabletop RPG--somewhere in between a childhood game of let's pretend and a video game. You are taking the roles of great heroes in an epic fantasy adventure--the costumes are to help you 'get into character' if you will."

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

EmeraldSky

“Heroes, huh? Like Sir Aaron?” wondered Gary aloud. Then he was all confidence again. “Say no more! I’m just the guy for the job!” He set the bag of Nidoritos on a chair and asked, “So, do I just pull on a pair of tights?” A thought occurred to Gary and he snickered, “Oh man, I can’t wait to see Ash all decked out in a goofy get-up!” Then he had another one and his smirk turned into a frown. “Wait a minute,” mused Gary. “I can’t really make fun of him if I’m wearing one too.”

“Oh well! How do I get started?”

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

"First..." Brock gives Gary a blank character sheet. "You'll need one of these..."

He next rolls a pencil in Gary's direction. "...and one of these. You'll be writing and erasing a lot, so this is why it's better to write in pencil."

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

EmeraldSky

Gary looked at the character sheet and frowned. There was a ton of little notations and spots to enter in numbers and words. He had joked about having to do homework before, but this looked more like the answer sheet to a standardized test! He picked up the pencil that Brock had offered him and slumped into a chair to consider it.

“Okay, at least I know my name!” Gary said and brazenly scrawled “Gary Oak” on the character sheet where he saw that it said “name”. Then, despite his display of bravado, he looked up at Brock the DM with an unspoken question: that’s right, isn’t it?

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

Brock noticed Gary had filled in the player name blank. "All right--where it says Campaign, just put 'Chambers and Charizards' Greatest Hits'. For EXP, just put 0, since you're starting at level 1."

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

EmeraldSky

Gary followed Brock's instructions to a "T", scratching away dutifully with the pencil. When he was done, the character sheet was marginally less empty, but there still was a ways to go. He held in a sigh, but Gary couldn't resist asking Brock, "We're only going to be at level one? I hope you aren't just going to have us fighting giant Rattata all night!"

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

"Of course, you'll get your chance to fight giants and dragons too." Brock assured Gary. "First, let's decide what your character basically is.

He next projected on a screen the current character races in C&C 5e:

Human
Elf
Dwarf
Halfling
Tiefling
Sylvan
Sirena

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

EmeraldSky

Gary chewed his lip thoughtfully. “Being a Tiefling sounds kinda cool,” he said, more to himself than to Brock. “Definitely don’t want to be an elf or a halfling; too fragile.” His eyes roamed over the list a couple of times. The easy answer was “human”, but where was the fun in that? If he was going to pretend to be a butt-kicking legendary warrior, why not go a little crazy? “I’m going to be a dwarf,” announced Gary proudly as he filled in the spot on his character sheet. “That way I can take a licking, and keep on kicking!”

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

"All right--as a dwarf, you have increased defense, resistance to fire, resistance to poison, and nightvision as innate powers." Brock explains. "They strive for the greater good, often erring on the side of lawful good--although neutral good dwarves are also common. They tend to lean towards the tank classes, or a cleric if they wield magic at all. Dwarves also know how to read runes, but that is the extent of most magical ability for them."

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

EmeraldSky

Gary scribbled down the abilities on his character sheet as quickly as Brock rattled them off. "Fire, poison, nightvision," he said around his tongue. Then, Gary looked up and said, "I like the sound of being a tank! One question though, when you talk about being 'lawful good' or 'neutral good', how strict is that? I mean, if I'm 'lawful', does that mean that my character can never lie?"

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

"The difference between lawful good and neutral good is how they perceive the law." Brock explains. "A lawful good character sees the law as generally the best way to govern, and will only resist if a law is harsh or unjust. A neutral good character believes the law is only a part of the greater good, and is not afraid to civilly disobey the law if it is for the greater good.

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

EmeraldSky

"Okay," Gary started, trying to figure out how to best phrase his question, "but how much does that tie my hands, like, me the player? Will the game stop me from doing certain things if I am lawful or not?"

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

"Well, in both cases, you obviously can't do anything evil." Brock explains. "This is not to say a lawful good character can't civilly disobey the law, but the occasions this can happen are very small for a lawful character. A neutral good character has more legroom to civilly disobey if doing so would help the greater good.

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

EmeraldSky

Gary nodded once. He tried to think of anything more to ask about the subject, but drew a blank. If anything important came up later, he would just ask Brock. It was surprising how good a teacher this former gym leader was. Maybe that's why he and Ashy-boy had gotten so close. Gary's rival definitely needed all the help that he could get.

"What's next?" asked Gary after he had penned in "lawful good" in the section of the character sheet reserved for his character's alignment.

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

"Next we decide on your class--the role your character plays within the party." Brock explained. "Dwarves lean towards physical classes, such as the fighter or warrior. The big difference being a fighter typically fights unarmed using martial arts, and the warrior is your standard sword-wielder. If they use magic at all, they are usually battle clerics or paladins."

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

EmeraldSky

Gary grinned widely. "'Physical classes'; now you're talking my language! I knew I made a good choice with a dwarf!" he crowed, and then leaned back in his chair to think. "All of those sound pretty cool, but if I am going to be playing a fantasy game, then I want to be able to do some magic." Gary let his chair settle on the floor and used the momentum to bring him over his character sheet. "Let's do a paladin!" he said, starting to scratch away with his pencil again. "How many 'l's are in 'paladin'?"

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

"Just one." Brock replied. "As a paladin, you start with the skills Sense Evil, Sense Deception, Sense Trap, Holy Aura--which is effectively invincibility for a short time--and Divine Flash--which is an offensive light burst."

He set the DungeonNav name generator to "Dwarf" "Before we roll stats, let's give your hero a name. This is how I will be addressing you in game."

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

EmeraldSky

"Hey, invincibility! I can get behind that!" exclaimed Gary loudly as he made a note of all of these abilities. Already, it seemed like paladin was a pretty good choice - these were some pretty handy powers. Already his mind was racing about how he could best use them, but there was still more to do before he could get started.

It was pretty cool that there was someone out there who took the time to come up with all of these dwarf names. Almost more impressive was how many words for "rock" and "earth" said person came up with. Out of the curated list of dwarven (dwarfish? Gary wasn't sure which one was right) names, Gary selected one first name and one clan name. "'Graros Rockjaw'!" he announced his choice. "How does that sound?"

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

"That sounds better for a fighter dwarf, but that's just me." Brock replied. "Paladins are supposed to be holy warriors, and the picture of virtue. So we need a name that reflects that."

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

EmeraldSky

Gary scrunched up his face and took another look at the list of names. "Grayson Rockchurch?" he asked hopefully.

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

"That's better." Brock smiled.

He next brought up DungeonNav's stat generator. "Now it's time for the important part--rolling your starting stats."

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

EmeraldSky

Gary wrote down the name for his character before turning his attention back to the Pewter City gym leader. "Okay, walk me through this one, Brock. What do I need to do?"

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

"Okay...let's first explain what the stats are." Brock began. "Strength is how strong you are, and how powerful melee attacks will be. Dexterity is how quickly you move, how powerful ranged attacks--archery, chakrams, shuriken, and things of that nature--will be, how well you dodge, and how quickly your turn comes around. Resolve is how well you hold up to damage, and how well you resist unpleasant conditions. Intelligence is how knowledgeable you are, and how powerful magical attacks will be. Wisdom is how well you read between the lines, and how well you hold up to magical attacks. Luck is generally how lucky you are, and how likely a person or being will listen to you."

He went on. "Above all, a paladin is a melee fighter first, and a spellcaster second. This means they tend to favor Strength and Resolve at the very least, with good Wisdom and Luck. If you want a bow wielding paladin, swap Strength for Dexterity. A paladin's magic comes from Luck, so a good Luck score will help too."

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

EmeraldSky

Brock’s explanation of the stats made sense to Gary, at least most of it. He had played plenty of video games with similar systems, and his brain was already whirring with activity at potential character builds. Gary was not a fan of balancing out his stats, he was going to try and get the stats he wanted sky high. From what Brock had said, that meant that Strength was going to be his main focus with Luck and Resolve good secondary concerns. He wouldn’t need much Dexterity without a bow and with heavy enough armor. Although Gary did not give the thought conscious shape, he would just have to hope that Ash and his friends could handle things on the magical end.

“Alright, how do we determine my stats?” asked Gary eagerly. “I get some bonuses for being a dwarf, right?”

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

Brock brought up the stat generator. "As a dwarf, you get +2 to Resolve. Strength and Luck should be your highest stats."

With that, he tapped "GENERATE". "Okay...you have 17 Strength; 14 Dexterity; 16 Resolve; 10 Intelligence; 11 Wisdom; and 16 Luck--this is including all your innate bonuses. Do you want to reroll any of these, or reroll everything?"

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

EmeraldSky

Gary tried to picture the numbers in his head before he answered Brock's question. In all of the places that he cared most about, his stats seemed very robust, and the score of 14 in Dexterity was a nice little bonus. "No good looking a gift Ponyta in the mouth," answered Gary with a cocky grin. "I've got a 17 for Strength and a 16 for Luck and Resolve, so I think that I've got all of my bases covered."

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

(ready to work in Ash?)

"Okay...I think that's everything..." Brock replied. "The costume closet is down the hall on the right."

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

EmeraldSky

Gary took a deep breath and walked towards the costume closet. It opened into an impressively-sized room and Gary had to act quickly to wipe the stunned look off his face. These guys really go all-out! he thought to himself. Once he had gotten oriented, he began search through the racks and bins for components for his dwarf costume. There was some nice pieces of costume armor that he could lash together for a knightly appearance, and a pair of leather boots that were just his size. But what really caught Gary's eye was a wild and scruffy-looking fake beard that perfectly matched the color of his own spiky hair. Hesitatingly, he looped the false beard over his ears and then noticed himself in one of the full-length mirror affixed to the room's wall. He cut a pretty comical figure with the mess of bushy facial hair and the faux-metal armor, but he didn't feel as stupid as he looked. Instead, Gary Oak found himself smiling to himself and stroking the beard trying to tame its wild tangle of curls.

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

(The costume closet is actually a well maintained room--no squeaky hinges or avalanche of costumes.

When Ash arrives, you'll hear him before you see him)

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

EmeraldSky

(Edited my previous post accordingly)

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

Brock smiled when he heard a familiar tin whistle playing a spirited jig, which echoed through the enclave. "Seems Ash is here..."

Sure enough, Ash--in a costume that evokes a red mage from Final Fantasy--arrives in the room, playing a shiny gold whistle with a green mouthpiece.

(what Ash's costume looks like (https://www.deviantart.com/celebrenithil/art/8-bit-Theater-Red-Mage-50886880)
what Ash's "magic whistle" looks like (http://www.tinytappingtoes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Prize-Green-tin-whistle-key-of-D-.png)
what he is playing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APVfPzA-X8E))

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

EmeraldSky

Gary stopped admiring his luscious false beard in the mirror and turned to greet the new arrival. "Hohoho, if it isn't Ashy-boy!" he said in a low booming voice. Gary's old childhood friend was dressed in red finery complete with a cape and a feathered hat. The jaunty tune that he had been playing on his flute had been light-hearted and breezy, but when combined with the evidently well-thought-out ensemble that Ash was wearing it seemed to transport Gary away to a different time and place. Well, that was until his old instincts flared up again. While it was true that his rival had had much more time and practice getting a costume together, Gary was still more than a little embarassed by how he thought his own get-up looked now: ill-fitting and not matching, like a mosaic instead of a single design. He scratched his false beard thoughtfully and glanced back at the closet. Maybe there was something he missed?

And then it struck him, he was Gary Oak! He could look good in just about anything! And besides, he hadn't pestered Ash in what seemed like forever! "It's good to see you again, Ash! Hope you weren't planning on grabbing too much glory tonight, now that I'm here!"

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

"Just remember that the point of 'Chambers and Charizards' is not to win." Ash cautioned as he pocketed the whistle. "The point is to collectively tell a tale of epic adventure."

Misty is next to arrive, clad in a majestic blue set of costume armor. If Brock needed a little help keeping Ash and Gary in line, she was the girl for the job.

(what Misty's costume basically looks like (http://www.angelicdream.com/costumes/umi3/umi3s.jpg))

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

[MENTION=127]EmeraldSky

Gary waved off Ash's advice impudently. "Oh, it'll be epic alright," he crowed. "Just leave that part to me!"

When Misty entered, he smoothed out his beard and tried to look presentable in his beard. Like Ash's costume, Misty's outfit was unique and gave every indication of being well-thought-out and put together. Obviously it was a labor of love. "So, what are you guys playing as?" muffled Gary from under his fake beard. "Warriors, spellcasters...?"

[EmeraldSky]

Kentucky Fried Torchic

"I'm playing a human battlemage wizard." Ash explains.

"A battlemage is the counterpart of the Final Fantasy red mage--wizards that use both might and magic." Brock explains. "They can wield special magic infused swords or bows."

"I'm playing a human Blue Dragon magic knight." Misty explains.

"The magic knight is the best of the knight and the wizard." Brock explains "Their three main builds are reflected in their faction names--the Red Lions are offense based, and use fire and lightning magic. The Blue Dragons are a balanced build, focusing on water and ice magic. The Green Falcons are more defensive minded, specializing in wind and light magic."

Serena arrives wearing an elegant red plaid outfit. "I play a light runeblade--a specific kind of magical knight that draws out magic power from rapiers, or sometimes bows."

(what Serena's costume basically looks like (https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/shugochara/images/7/70/Yaya_yuiki.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100106034445))