Stalkers RPG Main Action and Team Status [SEASON 5]

[Neo Emolga]

Nico had spent the afternoon contemplating his own existence and apparently only snorted awake after a few pokemon had already left the base!
He picked up the weapon left for him and tucked it gently into a tuft of fur, feeling grateful.

"Alright! Guess I'm off to have a chat with aurorawatch guards and hopefully be allowed to inspect the premises."
Nico headed off to talk his way into and then search (14a) Eastern Side Palace.

You decide to head down to the Exacta Military Compound, setting your sights on the Eastern Side Palace where Queen Nytalia and Princess Samona likely spend most of their time safely protected by Aurorawatch. The area is under tight security, but you figure you have a clever way to talk your way in.

As you leave the steel mill tonight, you head south and appreciate the calmer winds and atmosphere tonight. It’s nice and quiet, though sometimes it feels as thought a little too quiet. Still, as you look around the refuge area you pass by, nightlife in Exacta doesn’t seem to be very active.

You arrive at the palace side of the compound, which looks regal enough, though you recall this actually used to be a luxury hotel and was converted into an improvised military compound. Well, you figure it’s at least in a safe location, though what became of the original palace seems to be a real question.

You see two guards on guard duty tonight. A young rookie Ursaring and a plucky Raticate seem to be watching the entrance. You decide to try talking to them and see if you can chat your way into checking the palace grounds out for any clues.

“Halt, what’s your business?” the Raticate asks you, looking at you suspiciously.

“Hail, squire,” you reply in a professional tone, having memorized what Aurorawatch’s rank emblems look like. “Reporting on behalf of Senor Staff Scientist Veria, here to conduct a medical toxicology and biocompatibility analysis on pathological OMEN exposure levels on the site grounds and surrounding interior atmosphere.”

“Medical… huh?” the Raticate asks, looking at you in confusion. “Wait, what was that last part?”

You then pull out the OMEN Sample Collection Jar, pretending Veria instructed you to use it here. Meanwhile, to the two guards, it’s a very complex scientific device gadget that they have no idea what it does or how it even works.

“Precisely KA-43 proximity exposure to OMEN gi-01AX mutagen and LV-G1I levels that may transmute carboxyl groups and ribonucleic acids,” you explain to both the Raticate and Ursaring, only to confuse them further. “I’m going to need a full topographical assessment of pH levels to assess for any endotoxins that may trigger a macromolecule transmutation in addition to-“

“Uh, okay, look, just don’t wander around too much, okay?” the Ratacate shrugs bashfully, looking like his brain is hurting. “We good?”

“Acknowledged,” you nod in confirmation, keeping a straight face.

He steps aside, looking a bit humiliated, and you walk in through the large metal doorway.

Inside, the palace is fairly nice, though it still feels more like a hotel than a traditional royal palace. The rooms and décor are kept nice and clean, though you can still feel it’s more geared toward functionality than trying to look ornate and fanciful. Considering the state the city is in, regal appearance isn’t the top priority here.

You carefully and quietly search around the lobby and the other rooms that still make the building feel more like a hotel. What used to be a fancy posh restaurant is now a royal dining hall while a former conference lounge is now the throne room. Quite a few other rooms underwent conversions, but you still feel more like you’re checking in for a vacation than here to speak with nobility.

In one of the gathering halls, you find what looks to be a very-thoroughly used Aurorawatch officer’s sword leaning on a white side wall. It seems like the room’s been empty for quite a while and no one has come back to claim this weapon, so you figure why not just take it along? It may be used but it definitely looks like it still has some fight left in it.

[|AW| Worn Officer’s Blade] (Adds 1d6 damage to successful attack rolls) was added to Nico’s Pack.

You then continue looking around to see if there’s anything else that might be worth looking into. Eventually you come across one of the supply areas used for storing equipment, armor, MREs, and other military supplies. One of the more unusual items you find looks to be some kind of glass-like vessel, and when you get closer to take a better look, it seems to be a kind of crystal with an active fire in it.

It definitely doesn’t appear to be from this world, and the comforting glow of the white flame resonates feelings of Utopia with you. You decide to take it with you, imagining Aurorawatch has no idea what this is or what to do with it while Syrax the Espeon likely knows way more about it and will actually be able to use it for what it was intended for…

[[Divinefire Crystal] was added to the Team Inventory.

After searching the remaining rooms, you decide to head out, although this time, rather than deal with the guards again, you use a one-way door that heads out the back of the building. You manage to sneak through the dark shadows just enough to where you’re able to head back out into the night streets and no one suspects a thing.

Nico the Cinccino (S: Normal)

Health: 16/16 | Sanity: 15/20 | Purity: 24/24
Battle Stance: Ferocious
Perk: Diplomacy | Abilities:
EQUIPMENT:
Attack Weapon: [|AW| Rogue’s Dagger] (Adds 3 damage to successful attack rolls)
Defense Armor: <Empty>
Jewelry: <Empty>
Utopian Aspect: <Empty>
MERCENARIES:
#1: <Empty>
#2: <Empty>
PACK:

• [OMEN Sample Collection Jar]
• [|AW| Worn Officer’s Blade] (Adds 1d6 damage to successful attack rolls)

[Neo Emolga]

I'll search (13) Freshtastic Supermarket and Farms

You decide to head out tonight to see what the Freshtastic Supermarket and Farms has in store. Even though it’s closed and there’s no chance of you being able to buy any fruit to have as a midnight snack tonight, you still decide to see if there’s anything laying about that might shed light on things around town.

After walking your way downtown, you find that the silence and stillness in the air is a bit unnerving. You don’t even feel a single gust of wind blowing on your grassy back or across the petals of your Gracidea flowers. There are many shadows all surrounding you and you don’t know what may be lurking within them. However, thankfully, the supermarket is still within the safest zone in the city. But while you know ghouls and chimeras may not be the problem here, you already know it hasn’t deterred the Stalkers from doing their dirty work on these streets.

Once you arrive at the large white building, you’re astounded at how huge the building is. Most of it is in pretty good condition, though there are some worrisome cracks to be found on the northern side of the building. As you decide to search the exterior first, the sun starts to creep behind the horizon and the starts and two moons start to appear. Most of what you find are discarded boxes, metal cans, crates, and the like, though you find a discarded roll of socha coins that looks like it must have gotten misplaced and ended up in the trash when it should be in a register. You break open the roll of coins and add them to your Pack.

$60 Sochas$ were added to Noble’s Pack.

After searching around the outside, you decide to head inside just as the darkness of night covers the area. You sneak in through a small hole in the northern side of the building, likely caused by a little earthquake damage. It’s nothing severe, but it does give you just enough space to squeeze your grassy hedgehog body in.

The lighting inside is fairly dim and relies on security lighting only, but you’re still able to see most of what’s going on.

Inside, you immediately notice that the large supermarket has been separated into two main areas. The first half is the store portion where Pokémon are able to buy a wide variety of foods while the second half is entirely for growing produce and other crops that can withstand the indoors. While the grocery store portion looks pretty clean with the vinyl tiles, the “farm” area tends to be a lot dirtier with all the soil and planters being used and moved on a daily basis.

You start by searching over the “farm” area, where it seems like a lot of the crop stations are mechanically automated with timed watering mechanisms to take a lot of the hard hand-work out of the equation. Meanwhile, other equipment devices monitor the soil, air, and light quality and some devices serve as timing devices that indicate when the produce is due to be harvested. It seems like a lot of the guesswork was taken out as you look upon the many garden stations of peppers, fruits, berries, nuts, grains, and many other produce-bearing plants.

You then decide to investigate the grocery store portion of the building, which seems like it carries most of the main essentials and far less “junk” food like candies, snacks, desserts, and other items that wouldn’t provide much nutritional value to Pokémon. You can see that freed up a lot more store area for garden crop stations.

While most of these items for sale consist of regular food items that you already have access to, there are a few for sale like berries and seeds that have good utility uses. You take note of them in case you want to come back to buy some.

(13) Freshtastic Supermarket and Farms

Freshtastic Supermarket and Farms
Run by Pashin the Fletchinder

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

• $[Violent Seed] 80 Sochas$ (Increases damage dealt by this Pokémon by +3 for each successful combat strike. Lasts one cycle, effect cannot be layered.)
• $[Shadow Seed] 120 Sochas$ - (Chance of encountering random enemies is 0% (event-based or storyline enemies may still appear). Lasts one cycle.)
• $[Quicksilver Seed] 150 Sochas$ - (Adds 30% to your Evasion rate on top of your character’s base stat. Lasts one cycle.)

Store Freshtastic Supermarket and Farms has been noted in the Exacta City Marketplaces

After exploring the grocery store section, you head back to the loading and supply area, which seems like it used to be bustling with much more activity, but has become a bit more quiet as of late. Areas that used to see shipping vehicles coming and going haven’t been used for a while. There is a back office area that Pashin uses a bit, but most of it looks like it has become dusty with neglect. Meanwhile, you get the feeling Pashin isn’t too organized considering ledgers, accounting books, and other records are scattered all over the place and don’t look like they’ve been well-taken care of.

As you search around, you find what appears to be a pretty sizable box-cutter shiv that looks like its been sitting here for a while, unused simply because of the lack of box tape that needs to be cut. Still, you look it over and feel it wouldn’t be bad to keep it just in case you need a quick and easy self-defense measure.

Noble has equipped the [|AW| Razor-sharp Shiv (Adds 1d4 damage to successful attack rolls)

You make one last sweep around the loading dock, but you don’t find too much else besides neglected containers and empty storage cabinets. You decide to head back to base to get some good night’s sleep before preparing for tomorrow morning.

Noble the Shaymin (S: Grass)

Health: 16/16 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 24/24
Battle Stance: Tactical
Perk: Seinaru | Abilities:
EQUIPMENT:
Attack Weapon: [|AW| Razor-sharp Shiv] (Adds 1d4 damage to successful attack rolls)
Defense Armor: <Empty>
Jewelry: <Empty>
Utopian Aspect: <Empty>
MERCENARIES:
#1: <Empty>
#2: <Empty>
PACK:

• $205 Sochas$

[Neo Emolga]

OOC: Aurorawatch may not be interested, but I sure am!

Nia readied her equipment to do some sightseeing. Search (41) Canopy Art Museum (ABANDONED)!

You decide to head out tonight to see what’s the story with the Canopy Art Museum. While Aurorawatch doesn’t see any survivability utility in it, you still feel there might be something there that could be useful or shed some more light on what’s going on with the Stalkers.

You walk your way through the Northern Reach toward the eastern side, and eventually you find the square-shaped, dark-brown building. It seems the building is quite old and a lot of the fanciful architectural features like columns and molding trims have gotten worn down over time.

You start your search around the exterior, using the last bits of daylight you can before the night claims them into the shadows. Most of the alleyways seem to be empty, however. Meanwhile, you take note that the building has taken considerable damage, which is a shame considering you imagine it might have had historical status due to the age of the building. Thankfully it doesn’t seem to be at risk of collapsing, but you feel it’s likely some of this damage can’t be repaired without removing and replacing large portions of the old structure.

You don’t seem to find much outside besides old bits of trash, so you decide to head inside, using a flashlight to illuminate the dark recesses of the museum. The old halls are very vacant and open, and as you walk, every footstep echoes throughout the open areas, giving you that eerie feeling that someone is in here with you. Sometimes you stop to make sure that the footsteps that you’re hearing are only yours and not someone else’s…

As you browse through the galleries and displays, it’s a hard sight for any art lover. A lot of the paintings have fallen down onto the floor, statues have toppled over onto the marble tiled floor and have taken significant damage, and models have fallen off their mounts and crashed to the floor in pieces, all because of the earthquakes shaking and rattling everything in the museum. However, a few art pieces are still intact and have managed to stay on the walls or remain on their display mounts, some of which only just got a bit lopsided or skewed.

The artwork itself appears in many different mediums, include oil paintings and watercolors while others are stone or wood carvings. And the subject matter is all across the board from nature scenes, architecture, recreated scenes from history and famous battles, and other similar subject matters.

Another section of the museum is dedicated to archaeological finds of ancient pottery, tools, artifacts, and murals from long ago. Sadly, many of these have been damaged from the earthquakes as well. Often you find the floor bathed with broken fragments of these artifacts along with pieces of whatever glass display cases were holding them. You carefully watch your step as you navigate your way through the galleries, taking care that your white furred feet don’t press down hard on a jagged fragment of glass.

You find one display case that looks like it fell over and broke apart rather recently. One of the items you find that fell out appears to be a protective locket made out of a whitish metal that doesn’t look like anything you’ve ever seen before. It looks like it opened up, revealing an otherworldly ethereal essence in the form of a glowing white misty sphere that emits an illuminating smoke-like haze. You imagine whoever found this locket and sold it to the museum probably didn’t realize there was this ethereal presence inside, and now here you are, finding it thousands of years later.

You approach it and it radiates with a fiery passion of purity. You look over the locket and you wonder… did someone mistake this as a relic from ancient civilization when really it seems to be… from Utopia? It bears similar artisan qualities and features akin to some of the other Utopian relics you’ve seen recovered back at the emissary base.

You touch the fiery essence with your paw, and suddenly it absorbs into your very soul, and you quickly feel a refreshing and invigorating wave of empowerment flush over you.

Nia has equipped the [|UA| Soulfire Fury] (25% chance of dealing double damage each time a successful strike is made) Utopian Aspect.

You keep searching, though the feeling of equipping a Utopian Aspect is unlike anything you’ve felt and experienced before.

The modern art section of the museum seems to be a bit more intact with less destruction caused by the earthquakes. But as you enter, something feels wrong. Certain pieces are bathed in greasy dark-brown filth in ways that don’t seem like they were caused by the earthquakes, and they don’t seem at all like what the artist originally intended. Meanwhile, the smell is horrible and you’re quite certain you’ve never experienced a scent this ungodly.

You quickly get on your guard when you recognize the dark, tainted aura of the Stalkers. You approach one of the smaller rooms, and suddenly you see something twisted and entirely unnatural on the opposing stone wall…



=Kammo Wall Jingle= has been noted in the Team Records.

It reads like a deranged nursery rhyme scribbled with graffiti while the wall has been soiled with some grotesque and foul-smelling ichor. You’re not sure who this “Kammo” is or what dark and macabre folklore this Banette might be from, but something about the name makes you feel uneasy…

Meanwhile, in the center of the room, there is only a single display on a stone pillar mount. It looks to be a pure white egg, devoid of any color or features that suggest what unborn baby Pokémon would be inside. And somehow it’s the only art piece in this entire gallery area that’s avoided being splattered with the foul-smelling filth. You look it over and it seems to have a hole on one side, and as you look down, you see there was a metal plaque here that was supposed to have a description of the piece with the artist’s name, but many of the letters have been violently dug out.

The only ones that remain spell out something very ominous:

AboRt tHE UNboRN ChiLD

{The Unborn Child Egg: Abortion Deed} has been noted in the Team Records.

All around it, there reeks a presence of the Stalkers. You’re not sure what exactly this dark abortion deed entails, but it seems like it has something to do with the hole. You get the idea that likely something vile needs to be driven into it to perform the “abortion”, but you don’t want to imagine what happens next after such a thing is done…

After getting out of there, you search throughout the remainder of the museum, but you don’t find anything else that significantly stands out besides more art pieces that either survived or were ruined from the earthquakes.

You decide to head back to base, still wondering and feeling uneasy about that egg…

Nia the Alolan Vulpix (S: Ice)

Health: 16/16 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 24/24
Battle Stance: Tactical
Perk: Medicine | Abilities:
EQUIPMENT:
Attack Weapon: [|AW| Military Dagger] (Adds 1d4 damage to successful attack rolls)
Defense Armor: [|DA| Riot Bracers] (Reduces incoming Health damage by 1 point each time Health damage is taken)
Jewelry: [|JY| Amethyst Bracer] (Reduces incoming Sanity damage by 2 points each time Sanity damage is taken, Revives player and breaks upon Death)
Utopian Aspect: [|UA| Soulfire Fury] (25% chance of dealing double damage each time a successful strike is made)
MERCENARIES:
#1: <Empty>
#2: <Empty>
PACK:

• $146 Sochas$
• Spelon Berry (Restores all Sanity)

[Neo Emolga]

I'll search the exterior of the Silverlight Shopping Mall (2).

I go with Midnight and check the the exterior of the Silverlight Shopping Mall (2).

Tonight, Soul and Midnight decided to stay close to home and investigate the exterior of the Silverlight shopping mall. From a distance, they could see that most of the Pokémon that had been living here had been in makeshift housing typically in the parking deck just as some shelter, though there were tents and makeshift sheds scattered around the mall as well.

From what Soul and Midnight saw, most of these Pokémon lost almost all of their savings and were just barely getting by. Others simply lost their homes due to the OMEN crisis and had nothing else due to the remaining hotels having virtually no vacancies. At night, most of the Pokémon that were working at the mall had come out to reside here. Around the refuge camp, trashcan fires were common, tailgate cooking was a way of life, and simple cheap entertainment like card games and live music with inexpensive instruments were all around them as they looked around. As they walked through the camp, they saw an old Lopunny and a weary-eyed Sandslash chatting over a cup of tea while a young Charmeleon was stirring a soup kettle over a fire.

Quite a few Pokémon went to sleep as soon as the sun went down while others tried to enjoy some semblance of nightlife. From what could be seen in their eyes and behavior, they’ve got used to this living situation after three years of it. It was nothing fancy and they were certainly not the envy of the Pokémon residing in the hotels, but they were surviving and keeping sane by taking one day at a time. From the looks of things, the situation of many Pokémon living together in close proximity brought them closer together.

Soul and Midnight traveled to the western most area of the mall, typically the least-active and populated area. While the lights around the mall were turning off to close for the night and save the electricity. Soul had spotted a small metallic object near a few piles of discarded carboard boxes. When he went over to take a better look, he saw it was a lightly-scratched key with the letters and numbers “Y117” painted on the base.

“Curious,” Soul remarked, looking over the key before turning to Midnight. “Think we’ll ever find where this is supposed to go to?”

“No harm in taking it,” Midnight shrugged with a smile. “You never know.”

Soul nodded and promptly pocked it.

[Vault Y117 Key] has been added to the Team Inventory.

As they checked by the front of the building, there was a neglected pile of dirty clothing, blankets, and towels. Feeling it was worth searching anyway in just case, there was a coin pouch in one of the pocketed cloaks that still had a few sochas within it. After pouring out the coins, counting them, and dividing it evenly, they pocketed their shares and continued looking.

The $60 Sochas$ have been added to Soul’s and Midnight’s Packs (30 each).

They finished off the night search by investigating the rest of the building’s perimeter, but besides a few piles of discarded trash and a few other Pokémon tents and camps, they didn’t find anything suspicious that seems to be connected to the Stalkers.

After deciding they had enough, they headed back to the steel mill to sleep off the rest of the night.

Soul the Scrafty (M: Dark/Fighting)

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

• $30 Sochas

Midnight the Zoroark (M: Dark)

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

• $30 Sochas