Stalkers RPG Main Action and Team Status [SEASON 5]

[Neo Emolga]

OOC: Poor Lyellus. That's some awful luck. :c

Nia paced about the steel mill, finally having made up her mind.

I think I will search (33) Blue Brook Residential Buildings (ABANDONED) to see if I can find anything - or anyone - of use.

When the morning arrives, you head out with the others and journey east toward the two large beige and gray residential structures that make up the Blue Brook buildings. You quickly notice the dusty and sandy windstorm today is the worst it’s been since the day you got here, forcing you to squint to minimize the amount of debris flying into your eyes. Meanwhile, it gusts into your snow-white fur and is quite pesky, but thankfully not damaging in any way besides just being annoying.

You weave your way down the roads throughout the Northern Reach, trying to keep a watchful eye for ghouls and chimeras the best way you can. It’s a bit hard with the sand and dust, but at the same time, the lack of visibility keeps you concealed from them, too.

After cutting across the barren field behind the Northpoint Furniture Store, you arrive at the two residential buildings. Unlike many buildings in Exacta City, these two seem to have taken no damage from the earthquakes and it seems the only thing that’s befallen them since OMEN happened are just dust and sand storms. Still, as you look around the exteriors of the buildings, it seems like for the most part, no one’s been here in quite a while, though you imagine with all the dust that’s going around just today, it’s probably no surprise any disturbances that were once here might have been swept or covered away.

You search around the outsides of the buildings first, at first only finding papers and debris being carried and tossed about in the wind. Several motor vehicles of varying sizes and models are still parked here as well, but it looks like they haven’t budged in years either.

By the black metal door of the beige-colored building, you notice one slightly burnt piece of paper that is caked over with some dust, and you can sense a dark, Stalker aura coming from it. You sit down for a moment while the dusty wind blows and howls around you, pick up the paper in your paws, and sweep the dust off to read it.



=Huskpuppet Diary Entry 3= was noted in the Team Records.

You’ve seen this kind of old Floette-themed stationary before and the name Huskpuppet definitely connects with one of the Stalkers. The writing itself is disturbing and borderline incoherent, but it does make you wonder who or what Teeshay, Enco, and Mappa are.

Besides some ruined cardboard boxes and splintering wood pallets, you don’t find anything else that seems to be of value out here. You decide it’s about time you head inside the first of the apartment buildings and get out of the dust storm.

Inside, it’s considerably dark despite being daytime outside. The windows have caked over with dust and dirt and only a dim amount of sunlight shines in. You decide to strap on your headlamp and turn it on to take a look around.

You feel as though the rumors may be true, this place isn’t quite as abandoned as some townsfolk might think. There are signs that Pokémon were here recently as you see scuff marks in the layers of dust. But the real question is who is coming in here and for what reason?

You don’t see anything at first that gives you answers, so you start by searching whatever apartments you can, trying all the doorknobs that seem to function. Many are locked, a couple are jammed, one was missing a doorknob entirely, and others simply lead to rooms that are either in complete pandemonium where broken furniture and belongings are thrown about while others are vacant and empty. You don’t find too much lying about, though in one room you decide to grab a pair of goggles and a light gray and black zig-zag pattern shawl of your own to help shield you from the dust storm outside. It now makes sense why shawls seem to be so common around this town. They easily fit most Pokémon and these dust storms seem to be quite frequent.

Once you search the second floor, you find yet another apartment that looks like someone left it behind in a hurry and never returned this whole time. Judging from some of the photos that were left behind, the previous tenant was a Cramorant and they weren’t exactly tidy. It looks as though a brown jug of socha coins shattered and spilled across the floor. It seems the Cramorant tenant living here only picked up most of them and left the remainder in a hurry. You gather up all the remaining coins and add them to your own pack to save for later.

$50 Sochas$ were added to Nia’s Pack.

In the back of the same apartment, it also looks like the Cramorant was keeping survival gear supplies in a metal footlocker. They weren’t able to take everything and some survival supplies like fire lighters, MREs, a portable shelter, and an S.O.S. signal were left behind. While useful, you don’t see the need to carry these along, but you do find a weapon that was left behind in a steel security weapons case. When you pull it out and open it up, you see it’s some kind of hand-held or shoulder-mounted cannon armament with three trigger configurations. Meanwhile, there are plenty of spare cannon ball shots and black powder. You decide to take it, thinking this might be helpful in taking out some of these ghouls and chimeras lurking around.

[|AW| Vulcanfire Armament] (Adds 1d8 damage to successful attack rolls) was added to Nia’s Pack.

You search the rest of the first building, but you don’t find anything else that seems to be of value. You then head back down a squeaky metal flight of stairs and head out the door to head toward the other building.

As you head outside, you notice the goggles and the shawl work quite well and you don’t need to squint anymore to look around. Once you head into the other building, the situation seems to be the same. A thin layer of dust remains on the floor but scuff marks imply others have been in here relatively recently. Still, you haven’t quite found the reason for that yet.

You find a lot more of the same in this second building. Most doors are locked, other lead to either apartments in disarray or ones that are completely vacant. The ones in disarray seem to tell the same story. Pokémon had to pack in a hurry and were told only to take the essentials and leave everything else behind.

In one of the apartments, you find it’s mostly empty save for a strange and unusual metal trunk that looks like it was in a fire. Black charred marks are all over it and some of the paint peeled and flaked off due to the heat. You try to open it, but it still looks like it’s locked tight and whatever lock this has wasn’t deterred or damaged by the flames. It then hits you that this trunk is a fireproof protective trunk and whatever is inside of it must have survived the whatever fire this was in.

You look at the keyhole and something strikes you as unusual. There are marks here that signify that when this trunk was in the fire, the key was still in the keyhole. However, now it’s been removed and the parts of the keyhole that were once shielded by the key’s presence are exposed and don’t show signs of being burnt. It strikes you as odd. Why remove the key now?

{Burnt Trunk: Brunt Trunk Keyhole} was noted in the Team Records.

You then realize that the key itself must be burnt like the rest of trunk. But you don’t see any sign of it anywhere. For now, you decide to leave the trunk alone, though you keep in mind that if you do find a burnt key, it would be worth trying to bring it back here to see if it can open this. You have a feeling that whatever is inside must be important enough to keep secure in one of these cases.

After searching the rest of the dusty building, you decide you’ve seen everything. It’s still a mystery as to who has been coming and going, but you think it’s safe to assume these may be the former tenants that now reside in the refuge area still making runs back here to recover essentials they left behind.

Having gathered quite a bit today, you decide to head back, feeling a lot more comfortable on the walk home now that you’ve found goggles and a shawl to wear for these kinds of situations.

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:

• $196 Sochas$
• Spelon Berry (Restores all Sanity)
• [|AW| Vulcanfire Armament] (Adds 1d8 damage to successful attack rolls)

[Neo Emolga]

I will learn to use Clairvoyance for today, and test it out on the punch card key.

You decide to seek out Syrax’s help and learn how to use Clairvoyance, taking the punch card key with you to see if he can help with finding out its purpose, or if he can help you discover it on your own. The walk to the cathedral is a bit of a challenge this morning with all of the dust and sand being blown everywhere, but you feel the trek through it all could be valuable and would be worth it.

After going to the cathedral, you find Syrax the Espeon meditating in the chapel, though it seems he’s already aware of your arrival and on top of that, exactly why you’re here. Still, he smiles and welcomes you in and you already feel it was a good move to reach out to him for advice and training.

“I’m glad you’ve come,” Syrax tells you with a reassuring smile that makes you feel you made a good choice. “While I have trained other psychic Pokémon before, you’re the first Pokémon I’ll be training that I hasn’t been a psychic themselves. But I’m confident we can do this together.”

You nod with a smile of confidence. Having this mysterious and quite useful power will surely come in handy.

Syrax shows you the ancient and runic texts that he used and studied to master this power, but he decides to give you the “express” version of the training, leaving out the origins, the lore, and the history behind the power and focusing purely on the essentials rather than their deeper, inmate meaning.

First, it’s required that you take the object you seek to discover its purpose and place it in your paws. The next step is to take a very comfortable, meditative stance. What’s required next of you is to completely clear your mind of all thoughts, wiping the slate clean. It seems easy at first, but then Syrax tells you the next step is challenging and requires astral projection. While the texts explain the purpose and basis for this in great detail, Syrax focuses the training not so much on the why and the history behind this practice, but mainly the way it’s done and how to do it yourself.

Once the training begins, he uses his telepathy to communicate to you rather than speak to you with words. You find it’s surprisingly more helpful this way as it allows you to focus more on the use of your mind rather than using your ears. By focusing this way, he gently guides you on how to temporarily sever the binding link between body and spirit. With your eyes shut, you follow his guidance, and allow your spirit to float outside of your mortal body. Where before you felt anchored in, now it’s as if you easily float and swim in the astral plane as if in light, breathable water.

But Syrax tells you not to open your eyes quite yet. Instead, you’re directed to go further and further, fearlessly making distance between yourself and your body. At first, you feel a bit anxious that you have gone so far away from your body that you feel you may have trouble finding your way back and will simply become a lost soul if you forever lose your way. Syrax senses this and assures you not to worry about that.

”Just keep going further…”

You then realize that Syrax needs you to go so far away from your body that you won’t be able to see it when you open your spiritual eyes. You realize that this is necessary, else the sudden shock of seeing your own body from outside often causes a sudden ping of anxiety and causes the spirit to be yanked right back into the body, forcing the whole process to have to restart.

You perform exactly as Syrax requests, heading high up into the sky while still keeping your spiritual eyes closed. Syrax informs you that as a beginner, it’s necessary to keep one’s eyes closed as the anxiety and fear of this unknown journey into the astral plane can be unnerving to the point where those attempting it just go back into their bodies to return to the safety of the known living world. But you place your trust in Syrax and go many thousands of feet high, past the roof of the cathedral and up into the cloudy skies above Exacta City.

”Now. Now you can open your eyes. But do it slowly…”

And slowly and carefully, you open your spiritual eyes in the astral plane. What you see is almost a bit shocking, but you focus your spiritual mind and accept this as normal. Before you, under you, is all of Exacta City. You see the refuge area, the Reach, and the OMEN crater, as if you were a bird Pokémon simply looking down upon the world from high above.

But the world of the astral plane is different, also. You see spiritual, ethereal mists and fog around you, and hear spiritual whispers in the winds around you. When you look up, the sky above is churning vortex of white, and for a moment, you see exactly what every good Pokémon soul sees upon death. A seemingly welcoming white light.

”Don’t look at that for too long. You’ll want to go toward it. And if you do and stray away too far, you won’t be able to return and your body here will go braindead.”

You heed his warning and focus back on the city below. It’s not nearly as captivating as the white light, but you know Syrax’s words are truthful.

”Now, look at what’s in your hands.”

You look down at your yellow Pikachu paws, which are now transparent. But what you also see is the punch card key.

”What you see is not the actual key itself, but it’s place in the universe. Its purpose, its making, its story, represented before you as this ethereal form. Even physical objects have a story starting from the very creation of the universe and the raw materials they began as. And it connects them to how they were made, who handled them, what they were made for, and what they’re connected to in the universe. There are so many connections to all things spanning over trillions of years, but it would take endless lifetimes to map all these connections even for just one physical object. Instead, focus on purpose at the very moment. Where does this device belong, and what was it used for? In the living plane, there are only questions and assumptions. In the astral plane, there is a connection to purpose at endless times, past, present, and future across endless dimensions and possible universes. Focus only on the present within this universe.”

Show me…

The astral insight then shows you, guides you, and pulls you toward Exacta City itself, but mainly one building in particular. At the very southern edge of the Southern Reach, you drift past the OMEN crater and are directed toward one dark and heavily damaged factory. You see from the sign by the front entrance that it’s the (80) Boyle Factory. As your spirit swims through the air and through the roof, you are guided toward the exact link to where this key card is used. On a badly damaged manufacturing floor, you see an old punch card reader, and its entry port matches the exact size and shape of the punch card key you’re holding.

Purpose. This is where and how the key is used…

And yet for this dark moment, this is all you can see. Even trying to look at other things in the factory reveals just dark, ethereal shadow.

{Ruined Manufacturing Floor Punch Card Reader: Punch Card Access} has been noted in the Team Records.

”Now then, allow yourself to come back to your body. It’s a simple form of recall focusing, reuniting your spirit with your body.”

You allow yourself to go back to your body, like returning home the same way a kite flying through the air is drawn back. Your body is still biologically alive, and is still your anchor with in the living world. You feel yourself being drawn toward it once again, rapidly moving and swimming through the city’s astral plane variation toward your body. When you see it, you see you’re still at rest, very deep in a trance-like meditation.

When you make contact, you suddenly wake up with a bit of a shock, realizing you need to breathe again.

Lita has learned the Clairvoyance ability!

For that moment, everything seems to have returned to normal, but having gone through that experience, it felt far more eye-opening than you could have ever imagined…

Lita the Pikachu (S: Electric)

Health: 16/16 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 24/24
Battle Stance: Tactical
Perk: Security | Abilities: Clairvoyance
EQUIPMENT:
Attack Weapon: [|AW| Steel Bow] (Adds 1d4 damage to successful attack rolls)
Defense Armor: [|DA| Bronze Guard] (Reduces incoming Health damage by 1 point each time Health damage is taken)
Jewelry: <Empty>
Utopian Aspect: <Empty>
MERCENARIES:
#1: <Empty>
#2: <Empty>
PACK:

• $105 Sochas$
• [|AW| Combat Longbow] (Adds 1d6 damage to successful attack rolls)
• [|AW| Razor Composite Bow] (Adds 2 damage to successful attack rolls)