Quote Originally Posted by Noblejanobii View Post
I can't believe they were able to take out one of our own...

We have to avenge Nico!

Agreed. But first let's continue to focus on our tasks.

Next on my list is to interview 14. [INI] Rali the Treecko. Maybe she'll be able to give us some insight into the Stalkers situation.
Interview Rapport: POSITIVE
+1 Shared Type (Grass)

As the morning sun is high in the sky, you head out and almost immediately have to recoil from the hot, dusty wind that’s active this morning. The whole time it’s blowing, you try to keep your head turned so it’s not immediately gusting into your face and eyes.

You head down to the Exacta Military Compound, seeing things aren’t all too active around town lately though you feel the weather may be responsible for that. Still, despite all that, you attempt to seek out Rali to see if there’s anything she might be able to give insight on.

Thankfully, you don’t have to wait outside the compound for too long. Rali, as an Aurorawatch Initiate, often is on guard duty and patrol as opposed to the higher-ranked officers. When you approach her by the dusty street and besides a white stone brick wall, she looks at you with a nervous stare in her eyes, though you have a feeling it may be because she’s never met you. You notice she’s wearing goggles to protect her eyes while a brown bandana is across her nose and mouth. With her dark brown shawl around her body, if it weren’t for her plump green tail, you might have trouble telling she was a Treecko.

“Uh, hey there,” Rali greets you sheepishly. “Can I… uh, help you with something?”

You introduce yourself and tell her you’re looking into what’s going on with the Stalkers and to see if she knows something about what’s going on. She nods a bit, slowly at first, but then with a bit more certainty.

“Yeah, Noble… it’s ugly,” she tells you, sitting down on the nearby stone wall as it’s going to be a while. “Aurorawatch knows they’re a problem. But the higher-ups… well, they don’t think it’s as big of a problem as other things going on. OMEN, Knaves, power, communication, and just keeping everything going. Resources are razor-thin.”

“But yeah, I hear you,” Rali tells you. “The Stalkers are a major problem. Some folks here say I’m nuts, but they’re going to kill us all! Sure, one by one and barely anyone notices, but over time, you know what that’s going to add up to!”

She looks around to make sure you’re the only one within earshot. And then she takes a deep breath.

“Listen, not too many Pokémon are helping us with the Stalkers, so right now, I just got to trust you,” Rali sighs. “Something’s… off. With Saadat. I know, it’s like… treason to talk about my squad leader this way, but the guy’s gone berserk lately. I mean before, he was acting all high and mighty and super serious. He yelled at me for even trying to celebrate his birthday with balloons and a cake! Who does that?”

“Okay, I get it, some Pokémon around here just say it is what it is,” Rali shrugs. “But it changed like… overnight with that guy. There’s a rumor that he was investigating some kind of rock that had a strange energy signature to it. He didn’t want to do it, but Neshen forced him to get to the bottom of it, and boy, she’s a real bi-…” she suddenly bites her tongue, “…uh… I mean to say she’s… well… not so nice.”

“I think that rock is screwing him up,” Rali tells you. “He just wants to get rid of it. I asked if I could take a look at it and yeah, there’s something seriously messed up about it. Like, it makes it so you can’t even think straight anymore.”

“I think you would be doing both of us a real favor if you talked to Saadat,” Rali sighs. “He can’t leave his post and he can’t commission anyone to do a private investigation for him. But if you came to him and took it off his hands, then he could fill out the outside contractor private investigation paperwork with your signature and Neshen would leave him alone about it. In earlier times, sure, there would have been a long validation process for the client involved, but no one’s doing that in these times. Besides, Neshen barely looks at the forms so as long as it’s on file in some way, so we should be fine. But please, it’s making him lose it. That’s the kind of thing that might get him or the rest of my squad killed if he can’t think straight. Those ghouls and chimeras aren’t going to give him a few seconds to get his thoughts together.”

As another gust of sandy, dusty wind blows by, Rali goes silent for a few moments. It seems you’re the first one she’s brought this up to…

“Yeah, one more thing…” she tells you, looking a bit worried.

She takes a deep breath, and then looks toward the northeast. She points toward an L-shaped building far into the Northern Reach.

“See that?” she asks you. “It’s the old police precinct we used to have before Aurorawatch had to take over law enforcement. We were on patrol there the other day to do a perimeter assessment of the power plant. Something… weird as hell is going on in there, though. I was looking through the window as we were passing by and there was some kind of… face staring back at me. I swear, from the looks of things, it looked like a decapitated head. That could easily be another one of the Stalker victims! It wasn’t my reflection, I was certain of that, it was deeper inside the building. Still, Saadat’s orders were firm, I couldn’t go in there to check it out myself or else we would be violating the mission directive and that’s a big no. But see, that’s the kind of stuff we should be looking into, no matter how weird it is. What we don’t suspect is going to be what kills us, I know it!”

“Well, I should be heading out,” Rali shrugs. “Nice to meet you, though, Noble. Thanks for looking into this, especially when we just can’t do it ourselves.”

She then gets back to her post and you decide to head back, taking note of what she told you.

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:
  • $205 Sochas$