Stalkers RPG Main Action and Team Status [SEASON 5]

[Chibi Altaria]

Nia pushed her paws together nervously in thought as she looked over the map laid out in front of her.

I'm not very big, so I don't know how helpful I would be in a fight... For now I think I will stick to the Refuge and interview some of the residents until more information has been gathered.

Giving the list of residents another once-over she came across an Amaura, presumably the daughter of the Aurorus above her.

Princess Samona...is she royalty? Or is that simply a title? Nevertheless she sounds important, so I will start here. I may be able to gain a lot of insight from a Pokemon similar to myself.

Nia began to hastily scrawl a list of questions on the notepad that she always carried with her. About Samona's living quarters, the Aurorawatch and OMEN incident, the city, her mother and friends, places of interest, and if she had seen anything - or anyone - suspicious.

Interview 16. Princess Samona the Amaura.

[C0L0R3D]

176FF2E8-2630-4D36-8323-1815951E12A5.jpeg Let’s start with something simple.

I’m gonna interview 2, Safen the Politoed. Mostly about if he knows much about the Stalkers, but he also has a mission I want to check out.

[Shruikan]

So, time to start gathering info. According to the map the emmisaries had, the police station was abandoned, and some of the others had gone to check out the shopping district. So next was look around for someone who looks like they might be important. Glancing quickly at the suspect list, Lycellus settled on Axken. They seemed important, ("I mean, they're at the top of the list!") but also they were a poison type. Though he might not be as diplomatic as some of the others, Lycellus felt he could handle talking to another poison type well enough.

Lycellus slowly approached the skunktank, trying not to scare anybody along the way, then lowered his head down to the ground, trying to get closer to eye level, and giving what he though was a warm friendly smile, though to others it might have just appeared as though he was planning on eating them.

"Hey there! Sooo, hows it going? Besides the apocalypse scenario of course. What's the gossip around town? Anything notable going on in the city? Anyone acting more suspicous than usual maybe? Or any suspicious locations worth checking out? For that matter, are there any citizens who might be willing to help a brave mon venturing out into the danger zone? Arms and armour dealers perhaps, or maybe hired muscle?"

[Interview 1. Axken the Skuntank]

[Neo Emolga]

I wanna go to the mall. :o

Search (2a) Eastern Side

As soon as the dawn hits, you head out, immediately bearing south to see what the Silverlight Shopping Mall has in store. From the outside, you can see that this is one of the few buildings that has remained unaffected by what happened with OMEN three years ago, and there doesn’t seem to be any structural damage at all. Where this building and its surrounding grounds were once a casual retail place, it has now become paramount to Exacta City’s surviving commerce.

From what you can see, the citizens of Exacta City have had to turn this shopping mall into a miniature city all in its own. For many of them, this is where they both live and work now. Despite the heavy activity and many Pokémon going from place to place, it still seems clean for the most part, but like any other city, it still has its dirty places.

As you draw closer, no one suspects a thing about you being from another world entirely and as a Bulbasaur, you blend right in with the small crowds of locals. But before you enter into the inside, something catches your eye as you pass by a somewhat rusted drainage grate. Where it seems most Pokémon have passed this grate many times, you happen to notice something that looks like a piece of leather, tucked under a plastic bottle that looks like its been neglected there for years. Maybe it was thanks to your eyes keeping vigilant, but it seems you laid eyes on something that’s gone overlooked hundreds of times by the locals. Sure, you could be wrong and it may be nothing, but you decide to examine it anyway.

Curiously, you extend your vines into the grate, wrap them around the leathery object, and hoist it up and through the grate holes. It’s a bit wet, but you brush it off with your front foot and take a closer look.

It appears to be a wallet, but it looks like there is no way to tell who the original owner was and judging from the condition, it’s been here for a while and the owner likely gave up looking for it long ago. You open it up to see there’s definitely a fair amount of money inside. You wonder if this has been sitting here neglected even before the OMEN disaster, but for now, you decide to hold onto the money, having a firm feeling chances are good you’re going to need to use it soon enough.

$120 Sochas were added to the Mistee’s Pack.

You then head inside the mall itself, taking the eastern side as you imagine it’s going to take a while to get an assessment on just how many stores and vendors are here.

As you walk around and let your eyes glance in every direction, you see things have definitely changed since OMEN. Sure, some of the stores are definitely using assigned retail spaces that were intended to be used for commercial purposes since the mall was built, but now there are dozens of makeshift stands in many of the spaces in between, creating mini bazars here and there with individual peddlers.

Most of them don’t seem to sell things you think you’ll need, however. Paper goods, frames, textiles, furniture, and quite a few other stores seem to be around, but you figure you and your Emissary friends definitely need to save whatever money you can find for other causes like finding who and where these Stalkers are.

However, one moderately-sized store in particular seems to be selling some berries that might be worth buying for later. It seems to be a pharmacy, and looks clean, reliable, and dependable. While the owner, Borsei the Clefairy, is mostly selling medications and over the counter drugs for relieving pains, aches, and digestive issues, the curative berries might be worth stocking up on.

Friend in Need Pharmacy
Run by Borsei the Clefairy

HEALING BERRIES

• $[Sitrus Berry] 25 Sochas$ (Restores all Health)
• $[Spelon Berry] 25 Sochas$ (Restores all Sanity)
• $[Starf Berry] 25 Sochas$ (Restores all Purity)

Friend in Need Pharmacy has been noted in the Exacta City Marketplaces.

For now, you move on, deciding you’re just getting an assessment for now before deciding how you might want to spend your money. You move along, passing by a stoic Psyduck and a seemingly indifferent Sobble. From what you can see, while the Pokémon here are surviving, the situation is still bleak and it doesn’t look like anyone hasn’t forgotten what kind of life was left behind just three years ago…

Passing by a few more makeshift booths, tents, and mats, selling all manners of spices, shawls, produce, and many other wares, you then come across one of the retail spaces, being run by an Alolan Raichu. It’s a very unusual store named “Stop and Shyft”, selling stones you haven’t seen anywhere else. Upon closer examination, you see that they’re called Shyft Stones, and they come in a myriad of colors.

You then realize that they’re capable of changing a Pokémon’s typing, something you never thought existed anywhere in the universe. While not cheap, you think it’s worth noting that this store exists, as you never know when one of these Shyft Stones might be useful. After all, as a Bulbasaur, you can’t help but wonder what you might look and feel like after using one of these stones. To suddenly become Grass and Flying, or Fire and Poison. How would that change how you look?

Stop and Shyft
Run by Danchi the Alolan Riachu

SHYFT STONES

• $[White Shyft Stone] 300 Sochas$ (Permanently changes your (or one of your) current type(s) to NORMAL.)
• $[Maroon Shyft Stone] 300 Sochas$ (Permanently changes your (or one of your) current type(s) to FIGHTING.)
• $[Lavender Shyft Stone] 300 Sochas$ (Permanently changes your (or one of your) current type(s) to FLYING.)
• $[Purple Shyft Stone] 300 Sochas$ (Permanently changes your (or one of your) current type(s) to POISON.)
• $[Beige Shyft Stone] 300 Sochas$ (Permanently changes your (or one of your) current type(s) to GROUND.)
• $[Brown Shyft Stone] 300 Sochas$ (Permanently changes your (or one of your) current type(s) to ROCK.)
• $[Lime Shyft Stone] 300 Sochas$ (Permanently changes your (or one of your) current type(s) to BUG.)
• $[Violet Shyft Stone] 300 Sochas$ (Permanently changes your (or one of your) current type(s) to GHOST.)
• $[Gray Shyft Stone] 300 Sochas$ (Permanently changes your (or one of your) current type(s) to STEEL.)
• $[Orange Shyft Stone] 300 Sochas$ (Permanently changes your (or one of your) current type(s) to FIRE.)
• $[Blue Shyft Stone] 300 Sochas$ (Permanently changes your (or one of your) current type(s) to WATER.)
• $[Green Shyft Stone] 300 Sochas$ (Permanently changes your (or one of your) current type(s) to GRASS.)
• $[Yellow Shyft Stone] 300 Sochas$ (Permanently changes your (or one of your) current type(s) to ELECTRIC.)
• $[Coral Shyft Stone] 300 Sochas$ (Permanently changes your (or one of your) current type(s) to PSYCHIC.)
• $[Cyan Shyft Stone] 300 Sochas$ (Permanently changes your (or one of your) current type(s) to ICE.)
• $[Indigo Shyft Stone] 300 Sochas$ (Permanently changes your (or one of your) current type(s) to DRAGON.)
• $[Black Shyft Stone] 300 Sochas$ (Permanently changes your (or one of your) current type(s) to DARK.)
• $[Pink Shyft Stone] 300 Sochas$ (Permanently changes your (or one of your) current type(s) to FAIRY.)

Stop and Shyft has been noted in the Exacta City Marketplaces.

You continue searching, finding plenty of other places that look like they would happily take the 120 Sochas you just found a short while ago, but you decide to just keep looking. But after a few hours of exploring the eastern side of the mall, you feel a bit tired and feel you’ve tracked the only stores worth possibly returning to in the future.

For now, you head back to the steel mill at the north side of down to get a breather before deciding what you’re going to do tonight.

Mistee the Bulbasaur (S: Grass/Poison)

Health: 16/16 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 24/24
Battle Stance: Tactical
Perk: Diplomacy | Abilities:
EQUIPMENT:
Attack Weapon: <Empty>
Defense Armor: <Empty>
Jewelry: <Empty>
Utopian Aspect: <Empty>
MERCENARIES:
#1: <Empty>
#2: <Empty>
PACK:

• $120 Sochas$

[Neo Emolga]

I'll take the west side of the mall, then, unless I am needed elsewhere.

You join up with Mistee, heading south to see what your nearest neighbors may be offering in terms of wares and supplies. You have a firm feeling that you’re going to most likely need some of these as you take on whatever darkness has fallen upon this shaken city.

As you walk upon the dusty, asphalt road, a solemn and hot breath of wind courses around you, blowing sand and dust as it weaves its way around your yellow fur and kicks your ears and thunderbolt tail around a bit. Despite this area of the city having most of city’s surviving population, something about the whole area around you seems so lonely. And it feels that way even more as you look up and see the ravaged skyline of the Southern Reach looming before you as a dark cloud hangs overhead.

Along the road, a few pieces of trash and refuse slide and roll along as you make your way to the western side of the mall. It seems as though in another time, another place, this was a more welcoming place to be, but now, it stands as a monument to survival. You hope maybe one day, hopefully soon, brighter days will return and it won’t have to be looked upon with such desperation.

All of a sudden, to your surprise, your foot makes contact with a metallic object, half-buried in the dust and sand. Curiously, you look at it and use your paw to grasp it firmly and wrestle it out of the ground. Upon emerging from its dusty confines, you blow away the dust and debris with a puff of air from your mouth, and upon closer inspection, it seems to be a switchblade knife, still in somewhat good condition. You unsheathe the blade and it comes out easily, still looking quite sharp. You feel this would definitely make for a good self-defense weapon if you were to ever get into trouble.

[|AW| Steel Switchbalde (Adds 1d4 damage to successful attack rolls) was added to Lita’s Pack.

You continue on and then enter the mall itself, seeing that many Pokémon have used both every foot of available retail space and then some, setting up stalls, booths, and peddling tents all along the walls in between stores and often in the middle of the main connecting floors that see much more foot traffic.

Many of these small stores seem to be offering both locally grown and acquired goods while others are offering services. As you pass by a tired-looking Torchic and a dusty Herdier that lets out a long, hard sigh, you pass by a row of tents and booths cooking up meals and preparing soup for whoever has coins and is hungry for a fresh meal. The scents immediately catch your nose and it’s a spicy scent you’ve never smelled before, but it strikes your curiosity and you can’t help but wonder how some of these meals might taste. Unfortunately, you don’t have a single Socha on hand at the moment, but even so, you’re simply here to see what’s available.

Moving on, you pass by a small retail space called the Exacta City Newsstand, which appears to have been here for a while and looks like it never closed despite the nightmare that had befallen the city. Dole, an energetic Vaporeon, is still making a good living selling books, newspapers, and magazines. At a time like this, you figure it wouldn’t be uncommon for Pokémon here to want to get informed about what’s going on or just to pick up the latest bestseller book and get lost in a new story for a while to escape what’s transpired here.

What attracts you the most about the store are the magazines. They seem to be quick reads, full of print images and articles, but they give the latest on a whole variety of subjects and seem to be good for picking up a few good tips and tricks that might come in handy in the field.

Exacta City Newsstand
Run by Dole the Vaporeon

MAGAZINES

• $[“ROGUE” Magazine] 100 Sochas$ (Gives the user the Security Perk for the Cycle it’s used, one use only)
• $[“Handymon” Magazine] 100 Sochas$ (Gives the user the Repair Perk for the Cycle it’s used, one use only)
• $[“Chansey’s Diagnosis” Magazine] 150 Sochas$ (Gives the user the Medicine Perk for the Cycle it’s used, one use only)
• $[“Influence!” Magazine] 100 Sochas$ (Gives the user the Diplomacy Perk for the Cycle it’s used, one use only)
• $[“Codecracker” Magazine] 100 Sochas$ (Gives the user the Technical Perk for the Cycle it’s used, one use only)
• $[Runic Ancient Writings] 100 Sochas$ (Gives the user the Seinaru Perk for the Cycle it’s used, one use only)

Exacta City Newsstand has been noted in the Exacta City Marketplaces.

You continue searching throughout the mall and pass a few more peddler stands. As you get toward the tail end, it seems like a sizable portion of the mall has been used for utilities and necessities. Other parts are used for storage and have many cardboard boxes and a few wooden crates scattered about. As you approach this area, which seems a bit darker and far less populated, you can’t help but wander the seemingly dark and almost forgotten about hallways that were used by maintenance workers some time back.

Upon closer inspection, you get the feeling like this area was abandoned for a while, but only recently, some individual came by from the disturbances you see in the dust, which seem to cling to your own yellow fur as well. You follow these signs down into a room at the end of a short hallway, and then when you enter, there seems to be a small office filled with folders, records, and ledgers surrounding a wooden desk that hasn’t seen much use in the recent years. You look around and see most of them look like client information, contract records, and accounting. To the untrained eye, it looks like nothing much, but your senses tell you otherwise and lead you the edge of a metallic shelf that was recently used to hide something.

When you pinpoint the source, you find a strange, folded piece of unusual paper, and when you unfold it, it appears to be something you’d never find in an administrative office like this. It looks like a myriad of stars… galaxies… superclusters with coordinates beyond anything you could imagine. Tracing your paw upon it, you feel and realize… this isn’t your usual kind of space image and it’s not an ordinary piece of paper. It’s a map upon a sheet that seems to have almost magical like properties, but how it functions and what it means exactly is beyond what you can comprehend.

You decide to take it with you, having a distinct feeling this is a part of something much bigger than you were expecting.

[Mysterious Celestial Starmap: <Seinaru>] was added to the Team Inventory.

Besides it, you find another unusual piece of paper…



=Magus Journal Page= was noted in the Team Records.

You’re not able to read it and it appears to be in some kind of mystical runic language, but it definitely looks and feels like something out of this world. You think it may be connected to this unusual starmap that you found, but right now, you don’t know for sure.

After making one last check around these dark and dusty halls, you feel a bit tired and are ready to head back to the mill. It’s been an interesting day, but it isn’t over yet.

Lita the Pikachu (S: Electric)

Health: 16/16 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 24/24
Battle Stance: Tactical
Perk: Security | Abilities:
EQUIPMENT:
Attack Weapon: <Empty>
Defense Armor: <Empty>
Jewelry: <Empty>
Utopian Aspect: <Empty>
MERCENARIES:
#1: <Empty>
#2: <Empty>
PACK:

• [|AW| Steel Switchblade] (Adds 1d4 damage to successful attack rolls)

[EmeraldSky]

@Neo Emolga

Can we swap that switchblade to a steel bow, if we can?

[Neo Emolga]

Nico fluffed his way out of the hideout.
"Alright! I'm not quite feeling up to talking to royalty yet, or an espeon. Let's start off by visiting (24.) Veria the Cinccino!" He announced to nobody in particular, and scuttled off to ask them about themselves, the city, recent deaths, OMEN, and any extra things they might need help with. Nico was ready to make a new friend!

Interview Rapport: PERFECT!
**Same Species!**

After asking around where Veria the Cinccino is, you get a lead that she works at the Medidyne Research Labs, which was a former medical office building now readapted to create biologics, medical devices, and research ways to resolve and fight back against the OMEN affliction.

You find Veria working in one of the pristine and brightly-lit research laboratories, wearing a white lab coat while her fur is carefully tied back using bands to make sure it doesn’t unintentionally make contact with test article samples or accidentally knock any equipment over. You knock on the black metallic door, and she cheerfully replies “one minute” as she packs up a few vials and puts them into a refrigerator for storage.

She opens the door and is surprised to see you, but smiles nonetheless. She lifts up her transparent face shield and takes a breath of fresh air.

“Oh, hey there, a fellow Cinccino!” she beams happily. “And here I thought Altrez and I were the only ones around town!”

You introduce yourself as Nico, and wanted to know more about her, Exacta City, the recent deaths, OMEN, and anything else she might know or need help with.

“Ah, pleased to meet you, Nico!” Veria smiles. “Oh, I’m glad you came, we could use a lot of help around here. Me, I’m a senior staff scientist and I’ve got one of the most important jobs in this town. Trying to figure out how to fix things with this darn OMEN stuff! It’s been hard, especially when I’m limited in terms of test article samples. So far, I’ve made a little headway researching some antibiotics that repel and delay the OMEN effect, but full immunity just isn’t hasn’t been possible, and forget about reversing that grizzly ghoul and chimera transformations. On top of that, I feel we’re going to need that immunity if we ever want to rebuild what we lost in the Reach.”

Veria the Cinccino has been identified as possessing the Technical Perk.

You mention to her that you are in fact immune to the effects of OMEN, but she seems a bit skeptical at first. But, she’s willing to give you a chance.

“You sure?” Veria asks with a bit of surprise. “Okay, you better not be pulling a prank on me, because I’ll get you for that! But really, I hope you don’t mind if I verify that and validate it against a test article sample I happen to have. You know, having that would be really valuable for my research! But… hope you don’t mind Nico, I just need a bit of your blood to test it.”

You agree to volunteer to give that. Veria takes a small blood collection device, holds up your left paw, disinfects a small area on the side of your paw, and places the collection device on the side. You barely feel a pinprick as the device gathers a small blood sample.

“See, that was painless!” Veria smiles. “But really, thanks, I need to be sure about this.”

She takes the sample and then mixes it in with a few vials. She monitors the samples, mixes in an additional chemical additive, and waits for about two minutes. Her reaction goes from patiently watching to outright surprise.

“Oh my, you weren’t kidding!” she exclaims in excitement.

She rushes back to you, excitedly, almost like a young child on Christmas morning.

“You really are immune!” Veria cheers. “This is a really big breakthrough! This means it’s possible we might be able to create a vaccine and get all of us to be immune to this terrible affliction! But, there’s just one more thing I need, and it’s a big job.”

Veria takes a deep breath.

“I need an OMEN sample,” Veria tells you up front with a careful but hopeful optimistic smile. “And not just any sample. The ones I’ve been working with aren’t the purest form and they’re a bit diluted to varying degrees. What I really need is the purest, meanest OMEN sample possible. The big papa. And that’s got to come straight from the core itself. Yeah, you guessed it, the OMEN Crater.”

She then goes back into the lab, opens a cabinet, and comes back with what looks like a hybrid device that’s intended to be used for collection and sample containment. She puts it into your paw, and looks into your eyes with hope and determination.

“You have a gift, Nico, and it may just mean the difference between us rebuilding and us being stuck like this for the next few decades,” Veria sighs. “I know this is a really, REALLY big favor I’m asking for you, but if you could get me a pure OMEN sample from the center of the OMEN crater, it would completely validate all my OMEN research and provide worst case scenario testing, which we absolutely need for the perfect vaccine against this nightmare.”

[OMEN Sample Collection Jar] was added to Nico’s Pack.

SIDE MISSION STARTED: Carry the Future

Spoiler:

Veria needs a pure OMEN sample from the very heart of the OMEN crater. Take the [OMEN Sample Collection Jar] to that location and use it to get a pure sample that Veria needs to strengthen her research.

Rewards:

• $1500 Sochas$
• Advanced Medical Technology

“But please, please, please, be super careful about this, Nico,” Veria pleas. “I hired a team of mercenaries to get it and they were pretty interested. Keld, a Litten, Porthan, a Silicobra, and Burash, a Zeilous. I promised them quite a bit of money if they did this and it’s been over a month.”

“Maybe your immunity will make the difference, but OMEN contamination isn’t the only mess that place is dealing with,” she explains further. “It’s super dangerous, there are ghouls and chimeras howling around all over the place just running wild. I would definitely gear up before heading in there. You might be lucky enough to slip past them and boy I hope you are. Just… be careful of that crater, too. I haven’t seen it, but I’ve heard it’s a terrible, horrible place.”

It seems like she’s about to wrap up, but then she remembers one more thing and decides to talk to you about it. It seems she really likes you and has warmed up to you. She goes back into the lab, pulls something out of her personal locker, and comes back with it to present it to you.

“Now, I mostly study biologics and things of that nature,” Veria explains. “Someone came across this strange, stone disc, and I looked it over and saw it’s got all kinds of weird runes on it. And look at this!”

She shows you the disc and you can see all kinds of swirling stars and galaxies within the disc itself. When you place your paw on it, a mysterious and otherworldly tingle courses through your gray and white fur, almost giving you a chill, but in a calming, peaceful way…

…Serenity…

Serenity? It almost sounds like a whisper, but you’re not sure if it was in your head, or something else…

“I’ve been holding onto it for research, but I’m so busy with trying to figure out OMEN,” Veria sighs. “Plus, I’ve just… given up on this crazy thing. I mean it’s cool, but I just don’t know what this mystical thingy is! It defies science!”

“I don’t think it does any good staying with me,” Veria confesses. “I think it would be best if you have it. Maybe you’ll be able to figure out what it’s doing here and what it’s for. I mean, you have a better chance of that than me just keeping it in my locker! But yeah, I need to keep going with trying to fix our OMEN problem.”

[Celestial Configuration SERENITY] was added to the Team Inventory.

“Well, I gotta get back to work,” Veria smiles. “Nico, it’s been an absolute pleasure to meet you! Please, be safe out there and feel free to come back anytime! It’s always good to have someone to chat to! Best of luck!”

Nico the Cinccino (S: Normal)

Health: 16/16 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 24/24
Battle Stance: Ferocious
Perk: Diplomacy | Abilities:
EQUIPMENT:
Attack Weapon: <Empty>
Defense Armor: <Empty>
Jewelry: <Empty>
Utopian Aspect: <Empty>
MERCENARIES:
#1: <Empty>
#2: <Empty>
PACK:

• [OMEN Sample Collection Jar]

[Suicune's Fire]

So much to explore! So many pokemon to speak to! I'll stick with the easy one.

I would like to Interview 32. Pashin the Fletchinder.



Good afternoon, fellow flying falcon-mon. I'm new in town and just trying to get a lay of the land. It appears that things around here can be kind of dangerous...

Would you mind giving me a verbal tour of Exacta as a whole, and a brief history? And...do you know anything about the Stalkers?

[Neo Emolga]

I am feeling extra risky, but for now, i have a hunch of a feeling in Kindred Park.

Search (26) Kindred Park

With the morning sun hung in the dusty, cloudy sky, you decide to head out and fly east, intending to see what lies within Kindred Park. As you fly over the Redstone Motel and the Exacta Railway Station, feeling the warm air surround you as the wind breezes through your colorful plumage, you get a better idea of what has been transpiring in Exacta City just from a literal bird’s eye view of the surrounding area.

As you beat your wings to ascend, the consideration comes to mind that the survivors here are just barely holding on, having to grow crops indoors in makeshift greenhouses while forced to work with only a small fraction of the city. At the same time, a question comes to you as well. Why hasn’t anyone from the outside investigated what transpired here? You believe there should be a reason for it, but the only moment, all you have are guesses.

When you arrive at the park itself, you easily notice that three years of no activity and maintenance has done a number on it. As you flap you wings and land between the trees in a small grassy patch, you see the overgrowth has gotten out of control. Grass has been allowed to grow unhindered and unchecked, but now patches of it are dead and browned. Weeds have also grown unrestrained and unmaintained, and they seem to like to tangle themselves in your talons as you walk around to investigate. Often you find yourself having to exert more force to lift your foot and uproot many of these pkesy, ensnaring weeds in the process.

From the looks of things, it definitely seems like no one has been here for quite some time. Park paths have been caked over with dust and dirt, the park benches have begun to splinter and have their paint peel, and some of the disturbances that happened when OMEN struck down are still exactly as they were left, just with a layer of dust and dirt from the passage of time and the seasons. You see a knocked-over trash bin still left on its side after all these months while a few personal belongings like bags and food containers were left behind.

Looking at it all, you can imagine the scene for a moment. OMEN, going off in the distance, and all the Pokémon here suddenly frantically running away in fear, not knowing what was going on or if they would even survive the next five minutes. Children, crying for their mothers, park goers, not sure what direction to run in, and screams in all directions. The remnants of the scene give you a clue as to what it might have all looked and sounded like, and you imagine it must have been like something monstrous ripped out of a nightmare.

While examining the discarded bags and personal belongings, you don’t find much of value remaining. Many of these items used to be food that spoiled many months ago or belongings that have become worthless as trash with the elements taking their toll on them. However, one pink purse in particular looks like it was never opened. You brace it down with your talon and pry it open with your beak to find there’s money inside, kept safe from the elements for these three long years. You take it with you, feeling you’re bound to find a use for it later.

$85 Sochas$ were added to Sacred’s Pack.

You carry your investigation away from the park gathering areas and head toward the lesser-known part of the park, keeping your wings tightly folded as the overgrowth is everywhere and the last thing you want is for all the unruly vegetation to snag and wrap itself all around you. You see a park storage and maintenance shed and decide to see if anything in there survived and might be useful to take with you.

You approach the door to the half-buried shed, but as you approach the door, something catches you off guard.

#Deranged Rose Thorns – GRASS (4 Health Damage, 4 Purity Damage)# Trap 20% Evasion Test: 93 out of 100: Success!

Immediately you pull back just in time and step away before dozens of thorned vines attempt to whip at you, as if sentient with a deranged mind of their own wanting nothing more than to shed blood for whatever nefarious purpose. However, you are now well out of their range and once the vines realize this, they withdraw back into the overgrowth surrounding the door.

You decide to look it over from a safe distance and it looks bizarre. The door itself seems to have been repurposed and tampered with. Now, it looks like hundreds, if not thousands of coiled markings and carvings cover it. Your eyes almost feel lost just looking at it, as if trying to trace their ways through an impossible maze. You decide to take your gaze off of it, feeling for a moment that maybe this feeling of bewilderment was intentional.

#{The Coiled Door: <Security>} Deranged Rose Thorns – GRASS (4 Health Damage, 4 Purity Damage)# was noted in the Team Records.

From the looks of things, you’re going to need someone or something that would know how to break their way in by disengaging the lock, as force isn’t going to work here. The door seems very reinforced, so you figure even your mightiest Sacred Fire might not do much to break your way in. And even so, you know the risks of unleashing your full fury that way. Anything of value inside that may be flammable would never survive the attack if you were more forceful than you intended to be. Instead, someone with the right lock-picking tools and know-how would need to disable this lock.

Instead, you take note of the situation for now, also leaving a note and warning about the unruly and violent overgrowth that you’ve found here.

After feeling you’ve covered the whole park and have done a full assessment, you decide it’s time to fly back and prepare for tonight’s tasks at hand.

Sacred the Ho-oh (L: Fire/Flying)

Health: 24/24 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 16/16
Battle Stance: Heroic
Perk: Seinaru | Abilities:
EQUIPMENT:
Attack Weapon: <Empty>
Defense Armor: <Empty>
Jewelry: <Empty>
Utopian Aspect: <Empty>
MERCENARIES:
#1: <Empty>
#2: <Empty>
PACK:

• $85 Sochas$

[Neo Emolga]

Nia pushed her paws together nervously in thought as she looked over the map laid out in front of her.

I'm not very big, so I don't know how helpful I would be in a fight... For now I think I will stick to the Refuge and interview some of the residents until more information has been gathered.

Giving the list of residents another once-over she came across an Amaura, presumably the daughter of the Aurorus above her.

Princess Samona...is she royalty? Or is that simply a title? Nevertheless she sounds important, so I will start here. I may be able to gain a lot of insight from a Pokemon similar to myself.

Nia began to hastily scrawl a list of questions on the notepad that she always carried with her. About Samona's living quarters, the Aurorawatch and OMEN incident, the city, her mother and friends, places of interest, and if she had seen anything - or anyone - suspicious.

Interview 16. Princess Samona the Amaura.

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

In the morning, you decide to head out and see what kind of information Princess Samona might have and what her feelings about the OMEN situation are. You figure as royalty, she likely has a frontline experience with the unrest that’s been the result of all these calamities. But it all comes down to her willingness to talk about it.

As you head south, the dusty ground feels soft against your paws and it embeds itself into your fur. Still, you press on, hoping to get some answers that might help you and the rest of the Emissary team.

Once you arrive at the Exacta Military Compound, you ask the civilians and Aurorawatch solders around and it seems this is now where Princess Samona and her mother, Queen Nytalia, are residing under the constant guard and protection of Aurorawatch. You find it difficult to talk your way in, and you soon find yourself just waiting patiently for any sign of Samona rather than meet her in the compound directly itself.

After waiting for a short while, you find her stepping out for some fresh air. You watch her heading toward the back toward a small cluster of wildflowers and plants she has been taking care of. Based from her composure and her behavior, she seems calm, gentle and polite. Despite being under vigilant scrutiny of the Aurorawatch guards, you seem to be able to approach her and introduce yourself.

“Oh, hello there,” Samona greets you politely. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

You introduce yourself to her, and politely ask about her day to day life, and what’s the living situation has been.

“It’s been hard,” Samona sighs. “I miss the lives we used to have. Things weren’t always like this and I keep thinking back to those days. I used to be able to go to the center of the city and I didn’t need so much protection all the time. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate having Aurorawatch keeping us protected, but sometimes it’s too much. The curfew at dusk is so constraining and the compound can be really boring at times.”

“We try to make the best of it,” Samona tells you. “I just wish I knew how much longer this would go on for so I could count down the days. In the meantime, I just try to get my mind off of it by tending to this little garden I have. It seems to grow pretty well despite the conditions. I guess… it gives me hope. It tells me life goes on, and it will.”

She takes a few seconds to gather her thoughts. It seems the subject of OMEN isn’t an easy one for her to handle, but she looks better getting it off her chest.

“I was only thirteen when OMEN happened,” Samona responds to you. “I still have nightmares about it. But I don’t know what’s worse. Those, or the dreams that trick me into thinking OMEN never happened and I wake up almost believing the reality of OMEN was the dream. Honestly, I wish I wouldn’t dream at all…”

You ask if she’s seen anyone or anything suspicious, and she nods a bit. It seems to be a tricky subject matter for her, and she takes a quick glance around to make sure no one is watching too closely. It seems she doesn’t even trust Aurorawatch with what she’s about to share with you.

“I do,” she tells you quietly. “I was taking a bit of a walk around the compound. You see, they don’t let me walk too far away and wander off, because there’s not too much that separates us from the Southern Reach and those Knaves that mum has grown distrustful of. But while I was walking nearby the Sunberry Hotel, I saw something… on the back wall. The letters were scratched and twisted and the words just didn’t make sense to me. And it just looked so… ugly. I always have to turn away when I see it from a distance and I wish someone would just paint over it already…”

“There’s… something else,” Samona whispers to you. “Please, don’t let anyone know about this. Mum and Aurorawatch would never let me go outside ever again if they knew I found this… thing. I don’t know what it means and it’s ugly as well. Just… look at it…”

She then shows you a soiled piece of paper, and just the look of it takes you back a bit…



=Blotted Sudoku Part 3= has been noted in the Team Records.

“I swear, I don’t know what the numbers mean,” Samona tells you. “I tried adding them or decrypting them but I didn’t get anywhere. And these blots. This isn’t… normal black ink. I don’t think it’s ink at all, in fact. It looks and feels like it’s literally trying to suck the existence out of this… whatever this is.”

“I can’t keep holding onto it,” Samona sighs anxiously. “If they catch me with it, I know there’s going to be trouble. Maybe you can figure out what it means, but I’ve given up and it just makes me feel so uneasy.”

“I’m sorry for putting this on you, Nia,” Samona tells you apologetically. “Well, I should be heading back now. I hope we can stay friends, you seem like a very nice and gentle Pokémon. I don’t have too many friends to talk to in the compound. Please, be safe and I hope nothing happens to you…”

Nia the Alolan Vulpix (S: Ice)

Health: 16/16 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 24/24
Battle Stance: Tactical
Perk: Medicine | Abilities:
EQUIPMENT:
Attack Weapon: <Empty>
Defense Armor: <Empty>
Jewelry: <Empty>
Utopian Aspect: <Empty>
MERCENARIES:
#1: <Empty>
#2: <Empty>
PACK:
<Empty>