Stalkers RPG Main Action and Team Status [SEASON 5]

[Neo Emolga]

After walking side-by-side with (more like in the shadow of) Ho-Oh, Nico quickly realized that their idea had probably been the wrong way around. There was no way that Syrax would ignore the giant firey bird god and talk facts with a Cincinno while Ho-Oh looked around!

He scurried along with his fellow emissary and instead resolved to search the church area (34.) Hymn of Rebirth Cathedral, while Syrax was distracted.

You decide to follow Sacred to the Hymn of Rebirth Cathedral, but thanks to his ability to fly, you ultimately get left behind while traveling on the ground though you have more fluff and floof which is far superior. Still, he’s not a hard to miss in the sky, so you just follow his trail.

While on the ground, you keep vigilant watch as you head into Northern Reach territory, but it seems like you’re able to avoid getting into trouble and running into any unexpected company. Still, with the street lights off, the buildings around you abandoned, and with some of them having taken earthquake damage, it’s not the most reassuring setting and feeling to be suddenly surrounded by, especially in the dark. Meanwhile, the unsettling wind blows around you, coursing through your gray and white fur. Thankfully, your fur keeps you soft and cozy while both your eyes and your large ears remain focused and alert for any possible dangers.

Eventually you arrive at the cathedral, and you decide to check around to see if maybe there’s something laying around that even Syrax doesn’t know about yet. You first search the area around the building, observing that the grounds, while a little bit unkempt with overgrowth, still seem to be in good shape for the most part. Meanwhile, it doesn’t look like the earthquakes have affected the cathedral itself, which is good. You can’t help but admire the colorful stained-glass windows and ornate columns and arches with their many carvings, and feel it would be a shame if any of this took damage after it looks like so much went into building it. Still, despite being an architectural masterpiece, you don’t see anything too unusual.

You then head inside, observing the stone floor, walls, and various sculptures and paintings depicting Ho-oh and scenes from the holy scriptures. You see what kind of artistic depictions exist for what they believe Utopia looks like, and whether it’s close or way off the field, they still look nice, colorful, and serene with their colorful cities in the clouds and majestic castles in the sky.

The main heart of the cathedral used for holding masses and sermons is enormous and opens up before you with many rows of wooden pews upon a tiled marble floor while towering pillars and arches reach up to a ceiling depicting even more artistic masterpieces. Meanwhile, at the front, a large stone altar with an artisan carving rests with two candles on both sides as a large scripture that looks very old rests upon it. It seems a common theme around the cathedral is fire, and many torches and candles are fully lit and look like they haven’t ever been extinguished. It fills the entire cathedral with a comforting, reassuring glow.

Toward the back of the church, you find what looks like a small library of older scriptures, teachings, and manuscripts on the bookshelves. Most of the books appear to be very old with pages that have yellowed over time and covers that have taken scratches and other forms of wear. There are also numerous scrolls and loose pages as well. Nothing really seems too out of the ordinary, although one solitary page on an old, wooden desk catches your attention. The paper itself seems almost otherworldly while the runic text seems familiar.



=Celestial Runic Page 2= was noted in the Team Records.

You get excited as you’ve seen a page like this before with this same text, and you were able to translate it! You can only wonder what it says for now, but as you pick up the page, it has a faint aura of tranquility. You even notice at the runes surrounding the praying Pachirisu actually have an illuminating glow of their own that flows right off the page like a candle, definitely not something you’d see from an ordinary piece of paper.

You decide to keep looking for now, searching through the various supply rooms, storage rooms, and a private praying area that looks like it’s intended for the elderly or those with disabilities. Something in this carpeted and very clean room also catches your attention as it appears to be a small orb of white fire resting on a metal candle stick. This fiery orb also illuminates a portion of the room in a comforting, tranquil white glow. As you approach it, you can feel the orb’s warmth, but touching the orb itself doesn’t cause any burns at all.

You have a feeling you may need this for later. This orb definitely doesn’t feel of this world and it’s easy to guess it came from Utopia itself. You take it with you.

[Blessed Firelight] was added to the Team Inventory.

After searching through the rest of the cathedral, you feel you’ve managed to find all that you could. You almost feel like spending the rest of the night in here where it’s comforting and sheltered from the outside wind chill and nefarious-sounding howls outside, but you know you got to make it back to base before the night is over, or the others might get worried.

Thankfully, nothing befalls you on your way back, and you manage to get home safe and sound.

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]

[Neo Emolga]

Nia furrowed her brows, a look of determination on her face.

I will take the lead that Samona gave me and search (15) Sunberry Hotel.

As the dips further down beyond the horizon, you decide to head south through the Exacta Refuge Area and investigate the Sunberry Hotel by the river. The remaining daylight hours seem to be limited, so you decide to make as much resourceful use of the remaining sunlight you have left and trot a little faster down the road on your four paws.

Brief gusts of dusty wind blow through your white fur coat and lightly caress your coiled tails. As you look around you, there are a few other refugees carrying about their business, though it looks like not very many Pokémon at all stay up during the night hours. From what you can see, there isn’t much to Exacta City’s nightlife, or at least it definitely doesn’t happen outside.

When you arrive at the Hotel, you can see it’s quite a large, attractive, and luxurious building that is now fully occupied with citizens that have the sochas to afford it. You can definitely imagine it’s much safter and more comfortable to live here instead of the mall’s parking lot. Even the Redstone Motel pales in comparison to this lovely-looking pristine white building.

You decide to search around the exterior first, knowing once the sun goes down, finding anything in the darkness becomes a much bigger challenge. You first start by the front of the building, searching among the bushes and shrubs that have been well-maintained by the groundskeepers. Overall, you can tell they try to make this place as comfortable and as sightly as possible.

When you get to the back of the building, there’s a small courtyard and miniature park that has a few picnic benches and a small playground for child Pokémon, though it looks like it’s been quiet for a while. Though it has been well maintained, it’s not the park itself that’s the issue.

It’s the sight just across the river…

From here, you get a pretty grizzly and unforgettable view of the darkness and calamity that has befallen the Southern Reach. While the Knave locations are in relatively good order, if your eyes keep going, you see the buildings become further and further damaged before becoming complete ruins. And then your eyes look upon the crater itself, seemingly pulling and sucking the very ruins of the city into a macabre whirlpool-like sinkhole that you imagine must be absolutely full of dead bodies. You shiver a bit just from the sight of it, and the distant howling sounds are enough to bring the chills to anyone.

You continue searching the park, although you see something catch the corner of your eye. An old stone marker with three gray stones in an unnatural pyramid formation. It seems out of the ordinary, though it looks like no one else realized this and stopped to take a closer look.

You decide to investigate, and you move the stones aside. Below them, you find a cache in the form of a metallic ammunition box, buried into the ground. You unlatch the metallic lever, swing open the lid, and take a look inside.

You find an old, crumpled paper note on top, and when you unfold it, it reads:

Rugo,

I’m sorry, I’ve made a lot of mistakes. Trust me, you know how much I wish I could just go back to the start. But I can’t. I messed up bad and there’s no going back.

I’m leaving Exacta. For good this time.

I know what you’re thinking. The Rogues are going to kill me. Well, they can try. I’ll be long out of here by then, and if they want to try and follow me and hunt me down, that’s just fine. They can try, maybe for many years if they want to. Heck, they can spend the rest of their lives trying, in fact. But I’m leaving that life behind regardless of what the consequences are for defecting. Maybe one day you can, too.

Take my dagger and here’s the money I owe you. That should make us even.

Sincerely,
Ketros

You don’t know who either of these Pokémon are, but judging from how much dirt was on these rocks and how Ketros wrote this at a time they were still able to leave the city freely, you imagine this cache has been resting here unfound for quite a while and no one ever claim it. Meanwhile, Rugo, whoever that is, may not even be alive right now and likely never came by to find this cache.

You look further inside and you find the contents that Ketros left behind. Feeling as though Rugo will never come by to collect them considering it’s been years since this was left here, you decide to take out the contents and keep them yourself. Inside, you find a very sharp and intricately-crafted dagger with a crossed blade insignia on it, while a small black pouch of money rests next to it.

[|AW| Rogue’s Dagger] (Adds 3 damage to successful attack rolls) has been added to Nia’s Pack.

$95 Sochas$ has been added to Nia’s Pack.

You decide to continue, looking for the wall message that Samona was referring to earlier.

For the most part, the back of the building is just as nice as the front of the building. The walls are very clean, the trees and shrubs are in good health, and the windows appear to be clean and clear. But on the dark side of the building toward the western edge, the area seems a bit forgotten and neglected, or at least that’s how it appears.

You try to find the message that Samona was referring to, and whilte at first, it’s not quite too obvious where it is, eventually, you find it hidden near one of the flowering bushes. You can see why it brought the young Amaura so much anxiety.



=Twisted Wall Message= has been noted in the Team Records.

The words you see, written in a sickly, chaotic handwriting, reek with Stalker presence. Like an infection, it has even blackened the surrounding walls, defiling what was once white into a grotesque, grayish color. Meanwhile, the words themselves are deranged, looking like twisted, hellish gibberish.

You decide to keep searching, but as the sunlight quickly vanishes, you decide to head inside and check out the interior.

Inside, the main lobby and gathering area are beautiful, pristine, and comfortable, making it almost too easy to forget about the calamity happening outside and around town. In the center of the interior courtyard is a beautiful pool of water and the fountain in the center is even still running. Overall, you can see why this used to be a luxurious hotel and it definitely seems like a comforting way to escape.

Your attention is diverted by a white, glowing presence at the base of the pool, and upon taking a closer look, it seems like a small, metallic vessel in the shape of a cylinder was placed here, made to look like a part of the metallic carvings along the edge of the pool. When you remove it and pop it out, it glows in your paws and brings you a comforting feeling. It looks like it is made out of a whiteish-silvery metal that feels like it’s from another world entirely. White, glowing carvings are also upon it, and it seems to be a device that channels and stores holy divine energy.

You decide to take it with you, understanding that this was likely hidden here by Utopia, but now it’s been abandoned.

[Holy Conduit] has been added to the Team Inventory.

You then decide to investigate the rest of the hotel, checking through the main carpeted hallways and by whatever rooms you’re able to visit. However, from here on in, you don’t find anything suspicious or out the ordinary. Most of the Pokémon around have long gone to bed and as the night hours get later and later, you decide it’s time to head back and see what the others have found.

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:

• $95 Sochas$
• [|AW| Rogue’s Dagger] (Adds 3 damage to successful attack rolls)