[SEASON 2] The Stalkers RPG - Main Action and Team Status [ENDED... FOR NOW]

[Neo Emolga]

I'd like to interview Pormalu the Arcanine. I want a list of any murder the Police believes to be connected to the Stalkers. I want the cause of death. I want any odd phrases or items at the scene of crime.
If we can find each Stalker's Modus Operandi, it will probably help a lot. And I don't have the patience to see each new method of killing every night.

Interview Rapport: POSITIVE
+1 Shared Pokémon Evolution Stage

You find Pormalu at the police station, seemingly very busy as usual. It also seems like some of the stress is wearing the Arcanine down a bit, but when he sees you arrive, he decides to set aside some time to speak with you.

"We have a lot of Stalkers on our hands," Pormalu sighs, finding it difficult to reply. "We have observed some additional patterns since we last spoke, but we don't quite have everything. But, I'll try to explain what we do have and the findings that we've been able to track."

He pulls out a series of case files that include several photographs as well as written and typed reports. There is a lot of information with many piles of papers. He also pulls aside one of the holocomputers to show you the electronic records on the display screen.

"Given, not all of this information is verified," Pormalu confesses. "But I'll at least explain what we know and then some of our suspicions. We have seen the word "Depredation" turn up several times. It's seems to be sometimes found alongside many instances of Stalker-related deaths or where they have been before. At first, we thought Depredation was one of the names of the Stalkers, but it has appeared alongside some of the Stalker names universally. We're not sure if it's a collective code name for this group or some kind of 'word of doom' that the Stalkers are using to instill fear."

"Now, we know six Stalkers in question," Pormalu further explains as he goes over the case file notes. "Embalm, Philter, Extol, Annul, Oblivion, and Nightlust. Those are the ones we know for certain. Problem is, there are imposers as well. We recently had an arrest for a phony Stalker named 'Hateface' who used it as a cover to kill his ex-girlfriend and her parents. His actual name was Gurit. Gurit the Kecleon. Turns out, he wasn't a Stalker, just a murderer seeing an opportunity to mislead police and detectives. As a result, we can't be certain of all our leads until we confirm them. At the moment, we're not sure if 'Dirge,' 'Thorntongue,' and 'Scratcher' are potential Stalkers as well. Our detectives are still out trying to confirm them."

Pormalu then goes through both the paper and the electronic files one by one. You can see there are a LOT of victims listed, and it would take many days to go through everything, so Pormalu decided to go through the general patterns rather than cover each and every victim from the known to the unknown.

"Embalm makes a bloody mess of their victims," Pormalu tells you, sharing the case file with you as you see many bloody photographs and details for just a few of the victims. "Just about every drop of blood is drained, often leaving victims as a gray cadaver."

"Philter, as I explained earlier, leaves victims with roots overtaking their entire bodies," the Arcanine shows you the files again. "We suspect a grass type to be the Stalker for Philter, but we're not sure which one yet. I feel as though we're the closest to finding this one."

"Extol, as you... might have seen with Krum's death just last night, makes the victim kill themselves," Promalu tells you as he shows you the case file with many gruesome photographs of previous victims. "Uru the Sudowoodo is the only victim that managed to survive Extol's attack, but we have tried to ask him what he saw, but he only responds with screams and just keeps repeating 'I should have said yes.' It is... disturbing. This 'should have said yes' phrase comes up very often with this Stalker."

"Annul seems to be a Stalker that hates ignorance," Pormalu explains. "Victims are often found completely brain-dead in a state that doesn't even allow vital organs to keep running. I don't even know how a Pokémon can do this, but we suspect it could possibly be a psychic type. We do know that many of Annul's victims seem to be students, but it's not the only pattern. Unfortunately, that's all we know about Annul."

"Oblivion is a Stalker that's definitely blind," Pormalu observes. "Everywhere we've found a victim, there are scratches and often the victim's bodies are smothered in some black, oily substance like tar, oil, black paint, and the like. Messages also seem to be in Morose Code and in Braille. Now, we're not sure if this may relate to 'Scratcher.' Fern suspects Scratcher could be a kind of Stalker cohort or observer, but it's only an untested hypothesis. We do know that Oblivion seems to have a helper of sorts. Someone has been helping Oblivion with the Morose Code and Braille, and we think that may be 'Scratcher.' There's no way Oblivion could be working alone given his or her blindness."

"Lastly, the final Stalker we know for certain is Nightlust," Pormalu tells you, feeling a bit wary about talking about this particular Stalker. "Nightlust... has killed quite a few Pokémon, including Penelope. These victims... look like they've seen the worst nightmares that could ever be fathomed. And they all turn up dead because of heart attacks brought on by pure, feverish fright that can only be described as being frightened to death. And everywhere our investigators have gone and found Nightlust's signatures, they are the essence of pure horror. I have... come across a few traces myself and even they have left me traumatized and unable to sleep for days. This one... this is a Stalker I hope someone deals with soon, because they are the embodiment of pure evil and are capable of extremely unholy powers. The sooner Nightlust is erased, the better off we all are. I don't care how you do it, but it will save me plenty of sleepless nights knowing Nightlust no longer exists."

"Those are the known Stalkers," Pormalu sighs. "'Dirge' is a rumor. Right now, it's uncertain and we have only found a few victims that might be related to Dirge, or might be unrelated cases. There has been a spike in drug overdose cases, but we're not sure if that's suicidal tendencies in Pokémon that have been far too overstressed from what's going on, or if that's related to Dirge or some other Stalker. Dirge might also be responsible for Pokémon turning up dead in booby traps. There have been several of those incidents and we're not sure if it's Dirge or someone else."

"'Thorntongue' is a plausible Stalker that goes around spreading lies," Pormalu tells you. "Or at least that's the conclusion. He or she seems to be very enigmatic. Some victims have been found with carvings in them and this might be the work of Thorntongue. Fern is convinced Thorntongue is a real Stalker, but I've only heard it from her. She's told me she has only heard it spoken in public places, never written down. Some mentions have been posted online, but we haven't been able to tie it down to a specific source. The enigmatic nature behind this Stalker would make sense given the name, but we're still trying to investigate it further."

"Lastly, 'Scratcher," Pormalu tells you. "As mentioned before, 'Scratcher' might be a Stalker assistant, some kind of cohort or underling, or sometimes chooses to help one Stalker sometimes and then at other times decided to work on their own. We're not even sure if Scratcher has killed anyone, but he or she would definitely be considered an accomplice."

Pormalu sighs, feeling like he's spilled his guts about this, but he feels better having told you everything he's managed to find.

"We know there are others," Pormalu continues. "We're just not sure and the evidence is loose and isn't always concrete. Some victims we've been able to identify, but others were so brutally murdered that we couldn't tell. We're also quite certain there are likely plenty of bodies that haven't been found yet."

"We haven't given up hope yet," Pormalu tells you. "We're working on this and hoping for the best as much as you are. We're all in this together. When you drop by later, we'll let you know if we've found anything new. Good luck out there."

He still seems a bit overwhelmed as he returns to work and trying to connect the findings and clues, but it seems he's told you everything he knows for now, including even just the suspicions.

Laura the Umbreon (M: Dark)

Health: 5/5
Sanity: 4/4
Perk: Diplomacy | Learned Abilities: Escort/Protect, Exorcism
Failed Assassinations: 0/2