Stalkers RPG Main Action and Team Status [SEASON 5]

[EmeraldSky]

Aw, 5 sochas short for A Talisman of Life...

[Neo Emolga]

Ok, still at a loss on where to go, so back to the random searching...

Search: (35) Keepers™ Self-Storage Center

As the sun begins to set in the distance, you decide to hurry toward the east, using the last remaining hours of daylight to help in your ability to search before resorting to artificial light sources. Thankfully, the evening seems to be calm weather-wise. After soaring into the skies from the steel mill, you have your sights set on the Keepers™ Self-Storage Center, intent to see if there’s something interesting to discover there.

After passing over Kindred Park, you descend upon the self-storage facility below, seeing all the various garage-like storage areas. From an immediate observation, a good number of these have been broken into and many of them are just filled with things that likely won’t provide much help, including furniture, boxes of clothing, crates of personal items, and the accumulation of stuff some Pokémon had for hobbies, including models, boxes of photographs, unfinished craft projects, and many others.

In one of the storage containers, you find the Pokémon that was using this before seemed to be a weapons enthusiast. It seems as though most of what was left behind is broken or was nothing but a cheap replica. However, among the piles of cheap weapons that would likely just break if you attempted to use them for actual fighting, you find one authentic one among the pile that scavengers must have missed and overlooked. Upon pulling it out among all the others, you find it’s a very finely-crafted military war sword that must have been one of the collector’s most prized possessions. It looks like it was in a glass display case before the case was broken after an earthquake caused it to shake and fall to the ground.

You decide to take the military war sword with you. Unlike the others, you have a strong feeling this weapon would be definitely more effective in actual combat.

[|AW| Military War Sword] (Adds 1d10 damage to successful attack rolls) was added to Lycellus’s Pack.

You search through several more storage units, and while many of them are just mostly junk or have objects like furniture, toys, and knick-knacks, you find a colorful children’s toy coin bank depicting a cartoonish elated Eevee named Eddie. Surprisingly, it’s filled with a sizable amount of money, though it looks like it’s been here for a very long time and whoever was using this unit never came back to collect what was inside.

You empty the Eddie Eevee coin bank out and decide it would be best to use this money for helping the Emissary cause.

$435 Sochas$ was added to Lycellus’s Pack.

You check through several more storage units to find either junk or they were completely empty and unused. There is one, however, that feels like it has a bit of Stalker presence. When you get to Storage Unit #872, you can feel a bit of that dark taint by the keyhole, and something seems wrong when you first look at it. The lock has been struck hard by some blunt object, and there’s even some blood splattered on it. You try to make an attempt to pick the lock, but unfortunately, it seems beyond your skill and you don’t quite have the right picks for this.

From what you can tell, you’re going to need that key, and on top of that, someone needs to repair the lock, because with that lock dislodged and skewed from the way it’s been hit, the door is likely still going to be jammed until that’s realigned the way it should be.

{Storage Unit #872: #872 Keyhole AND <Repair>}

After searching through another row of neglected or empty storage containers, you find one off to the side that seems a bit suspicious. While the unit seems normal at a first glance, you notice subtle differences. The original lock was removed and replaced with a customized one. And judging from the look of it, it doesn’t appear to be that old and looks like it was replaced at least after OMEN happened.

Upon looking at the lock, it looks like you would be able to pick it, though it ends up being very complicated. After placing your tension wrench, you find it’s quite a chore to pick this one and it seems like whoever used this lock really didn’t want anyone to get inside it. But after some very patient and surgical-like manipulation, you carefully align the ten pins to the right elevation and turn the lock so it disengages.

{Shady Storage Unit: <Security>}

You roll up the garage door and you come across something… interesting. Around are what seem to be forest-green military crates. You count six of them, two fairly large ones, two mid-sized crates, and two small ones. In a white, stencil-stylized text on the side of the crate, you can make out the word “Shadowmarch” with a lot number code just below it.

Cracking open the first crate, you find it was used for armor, and it looks like someone was using this storage unit for smuggling contraband military surplus. Meanwhile, it seems like it was being used even after the OMEN strike, which has you wondering what’s going on and why this operation was happening in the first place.

You pull out the first set of armor, which has an insignia of a triple overlapping crescent moon insignia, which seems to indicate the faction emblem associated with Shadowmarch. The armor looks completely brand new and never used before. It makes you wonder if Shadowmarch has any kind of relationship with Aurorawatch, though considering the nature of the smuggling, you imagine it’s likely that it isn’t very good.

Still, you decide to finally give this particular set of black, interlocking plates to good use. This configuration seems to be adaptable to your body size and frame, creating a protective mesh that allows for movement, but offers reliable protection against enemy assaults.

Lycellus has equipped the [|DA| Shadowmarch Commando Mesh Armor] (Reduces incoming Health damage by 4 points each time Health damage is taken, prevents Super-Effective damage effects)

Meanwhile, you find a second suit of armor, looking slightly different from the first, though it shares similar attributes like the black interlocking plates with the same Shadowmarch insignia. You decide to take this suit of armor along, also, just in case someone else needs it.

[|DA| Shadowmarch Special Forces Armor] (Reduces incoming Health damage by 4 points each time Health damage is taken, prevents Super-Effective damage effects) was added to Lycellus’s Pack.

You then open the second large crate, and inside you find a rather large black metallic rocket-launcher like armament that looks like it has never been fired before. You realize besides it is one of the mid-sized crates and when you break it open, you see it’s full of rockets, likely the ammunition needed for this armament. Again, they’re all marked with the same triple moon Shadowmarch insignia…

[|DA| Shadowmarch Azathoth Armament] (Adds 3d8+8 damage to successful attack rolls, requires following to turn to be used to reload after each attack) has been added to Lycellus’s Pack.

Thankfully, the armament comes with a fairly large chamber hold to store the rockets, and with there being a whole crate of them, you’re quite sure there’s enough to last for a while. It seems like it was created as an experimental prototype weapon, though you have no idea where they could have performed such advanced weapons research and development. It definitely doesn’t look like it was done here in Exacta City…

In the second mid-sized crate, you find more Shadowmarch military gear, including radio headsets, navigation equipment, MREs, batteries, and other such supplies. While useful in a combat setting, you don’t think you’ll need these, but nonetheless, they seem highly-advanced and further support the conclusion that whoever Shadowmarch is, they’re extremely well-funded and heavily financed.

After clearing out the last of the storage units, you find one of the last few has something… unusual. From an initial standpoint, it looks like it was thoroughly raided and cleaned out by other scavengers, but you feel a faint, holy presence coming from it.

When you investigate it further, you find what appears to be an ever-burning white fire torch of holy flame that gives us a comforting, white holy glow. Meanwhile, even the torch base seems to be a rod of pure whitish metal that doesn’t seem like any kind of metal you’ve ever seen before.

You figure it was hidden here in haste, but no one thought to look into this further since then. You decide to take it with you, feeling it has to be something that Utopia had intentions to use.

[Whitefire Torch] was added to the Team Inventory.

After searching the last of the storage units, you decide to fly back to the Emissary base and get some rest before tomorrow morning.

Lycellus the Eternatus (L: Dragon/Poison)

Health: 24/24 | Sanity: 15/20 | Purity: 11/16
Battle Stance: Tactical
Perk: Security | Abilities:
EQUIPMENT:
Attack Weapon: [|AW| Veteran’s Warhammer] (Adds 4 damage to successful attack rolls)
Defense Armor: [|DA| Shadowmarch Commando Mesh Armor] (Reduces incoming Health damage by 4 points each time Health damage is taken, prevents Super-Effective damage effects)
Jewelry: <Empty>
Utopian Aspect: <Empty>
MERCENARIES:
#1: <Empty>
#2: <Empty>
PACK:

• [Sitrus Berry] (Restores all Health)
• $825 Sochas$
• [|AW| Military War Sword] (Adds 1d10 damage to successful attack rolls)
• [|DA| Shadowmarch Special Forces Armor] (Reduces incoming Health damage by 4 points each time Health damage is taken, prevents Super-Effective damage effects)
• [|DA| Shadowmarch Azathoth Armament] (Adds 3d8+5 damage to successful attack rolls, requires following to turn to be used to reload after each attack)

[Neo Emolga]

Well now, don't go forgetting about little old me. Scratch that. I'm not that old

I'll search the (16) Riverwinds Shopping Center

Rather than immediately rush to get to the shopping center to see what might be lying around, you wait until the sun has fully set and then head out, feeling a bit cozier going at night when the daylight is gone. You also think it might be easier to work with the shadows to not have anyone around town suspecting you’re up to no good. Besides, right now, even the money doesn’t matter all that much. It’s more about the thrills.

When you first arrive, you see all the lights have gone off and all the store owners have left and gone home. Perfect. You first start by searching around the exterior of the strip mall, seeing that this isn’t the most popular place for Aurorawatch to patrol during the night, which works perfectly for you as you were hoping they wouldn’t be lingering around anyway and asking questions. Quite truthfully, you’d rather deal with decapitating a ghoul than trying to talk your way out of dealing with Aurorawatch’s ilk.

The parking lot is mostly empty save for a few trash cans that are half-filled with junk and a few vehicles that look like they’ve been here for an eternity and likely don’t even run anymore. Curious thing is, you to decide to see if there’s maybe something inside one of these. It wouldn’t be the first time that you’ve realized there were decent pickings right here in the refuge area while all the other scavengers felt the only good bits worth hunting for were in the Reach.

The first passenger car you break into doesn’t have much, and you can tell the owner was a real slob as there’s wrappers, food crumbs, dirty napkins, and other junk laying all over the place as if they didn’t seem to mind driving this hunk of junk while sitting in their own personal landfill they created all by themselves. The home repair van seems a bit more promising, as while it’s dirty due to the nature of the work, you find a dusty transaction case with money inside, likely used to collect from clients after work was performed. You find quite a bit in there and it looks like it was never taken back to the company base after the work was performed and the transaction was completed. You figure that’s likely because OMEN happened before it could be done, but hey, no sense letting this just sit around! You gather it up and figure the Emissaries might like some of this.

$360 Sochas$ were added to the Team Inventory.

After checking around the buildings, you then check each of the individual stores, starting with The Tool Rack that Nykan the Pachirisu owns. You don’t know much at all about the electric squirrel or why he even owns a hardware store, but you shrug the thought of it off and decide to see what’s the story with this place.

Sneaking your way in through the roof almost seems too easy, and if you really wanted to, stealing a good chunk of the merchandise would be a breeze, but then you’d have no use for it. So rather than ruin the squirrel’s week, you just take a look around, though it does feel satisfying to know you could have pulled off a nefarious burglary if you really wanted to.

Sure, there’s plenty of tools, equipment, supplies, home repair stuff, and all that business, but you can’t help but get the feeling maybe there’s a more creative way of using these. Not you, of course, you’ve got all the claws you’ll ever need to slash a ghoul’s eyes out, but the Emissaries might be interested in some of these if they wanted some extra heads bashed in. So you take note of what’s around for sale just in case they want to help this silly squirrel’s hardware business.

The Tool Rack
Run by Nykan the Pachirisu

TOOLS

• $[|AW| Workshop Mallet] 40 Sochas$ (Adds 1d4 damage to successful attack rolls)
• $[|AW| Steel Crobar] 150 Sochas$ (Adds 1d6 damage to successful attack rolls)
• $[|AW| Steel Sledgehammer] 215 Sochas$ (Adds 1d8 damage to successful attack rolls)
  
• $[|AW| Woodcutter Axe] 30 Sochas$ (Adds 2 damage to successful attack rolls)
• $[|AW| Brush Machete] 110 Sochas$ (Adds 3 damage to successful attack rolls)
• $[|AW| Gas-powered Chainsaw] 180 Sochas$ (Adds 4 damage to successful attack rolls)

PROTECTIVE GEAR

• $[|DA| Protective Workcloth] 80 Sochas$ (Reduces incoming Health damage by 1 point each time Health damage is taken)
• $[|DA| Heavy Duty Workgear] 240 Sochas$ (Reduces incoming Health damage by 2 points each time Health damage is taken)

MISC TOOLS

• $[Sunfire Flares] 150 Sochas$ (If held in your Pack, the next time your character tries to flee from a battle (along with any other characters in your party trying to Flee), one of these will be used and the Flee attempt will be successful.)
• $[Revealing Glass] 100 Sochas$ (Can be used to see if there are any hidden traps in an unsearched area (as a Yes or No answer))

The rest seems to be just repair and building materials. You imagine these Emissaries likely aren’t interested in building houses when they have the steel mill to themselves, so you decide to head out and search the next store in this plaza.

The next store seems to be the Happy Holiday Gift Store, part of a commercial chain of stores known for selling overpriced knick-knacks, snowglobes, expensive greeting cards, and other silly stuff. Normally, you wouldn’t be caught dead going into a store like this, but you figure you why not look around to see if there’s anything interesting. Thankfully, it’s far easier to do this at night when there’s no one else around to see you there, and you don’t have employees asking you if they can help you find something.

You sneak in through the hatch in the roof and it almost seems too easy again. As you look around inside, you keep rolling your eyes at the fluffy décor, cheerful and colorful presentation of everything, and all the happy and jubilant merchandise you see on the shelves and display racks. Really, Namrai, there’s the end of the world happening across the street and you really think the first thing on everyone’s mind is going to be “ooh, chocolate truffles, grandma is going to really need those after running away from the ghouls!”

Happy Holiday Gift Store
Run by Namrai the Steenee

JEWELRY AND TRINKETS

• $[|JW|Angelic Heart Ring] 100 Sochas$ (Dying to the Stalkers or the followers of the Abyss does not raise the Doom Tracker)
• $[|JW| Onyx Necklace] 200 Sochas$ (Cuts the chances of running into random enemy encounters down by half (50%))
• $[|JW| Friends Forever Dual Heart Necklaces: <XXX>] 350 Sochas$ (When equipping this, select a civilian from the list (will replace the “XXX”). As long as you wear this, that civilian will never be killed by the Stalkers.)

HOLIDAY GIFT AISLE

• $[Holiday Greeting Card] 50 Sochas$ (To use, select a civilian on the list. You will get a return card that reveals their personality.)
• $[Golden Memories Chocolate Box] 100 Sochas$ (A mysterious box of chocolates that takes you back to earlier times. Select a Pokémon form you were before to become that Pokémon again. Just don’t mind the mysterious “you’ll remember, they won’t…” whisper…)
• $[Neo Emolga Keychain] 500 Sochas$ (At a first glance, it appears to be nothing more than a keychain toy depicting Neo Emolga with his familiar crescent moon necklace and a button on his back that makes him say “cheers and good times!” But some attest that this is not just a toy and that it radiates a mysterious but comforting glow in dark places. But what does it mean?)

And moving on.

Third store is the Soul Food Diner, and though you’ve seen this place before, the name always seemed unsettling, as if it kind of implies eating souls. Still, you almost laugh when you discover Seul totally forgot to lock the front door. Well, it’s a diner, after all, it’s not like he’s got piles of gold bullion to steal here. Inside, it’s a typical no-frills diner with a few tables and chairs, tacky décor, and a beverage menu that tries to be cute with colorful pictures, but overdoes it to the point where if you rolled your eyes any more, you might need optical surgery.

Soul Food Diner
Run by Seul the Brioonne

MENU

• $[Caffeine Delight] 150 Sochas$ (A special brew of caffeinated beverage that gives the one that ingests it enough energy to search two places the next turn.)
• $[Heartwarming Cocoa] 150 Sochas$ (The cocoa that can save your life! If you have this in your Pack and you take lethal Health damage, this will keep you alive at 1 Health remaining (similar to the move Endure)
• $[Sweet Herbal Tea] 150 Sochas$ (A calming and revitalizing tea that helps preserve your mental state! If you take lethal Sanity damage, this will keep you alive at 1 Sanity remaining.
• $[The Monk’s Special] 150 Sochas$ (A sweet and blissful fruity beverage that just makes you feel good. If you have this in your Pack and you take lethal Purity damage, this will keep you alive at 1 Purity remaining.

You’re more into alcohol, so off you go.

Lastly, there’s the Sweet Dreams Café, which you’ve heard weird rumors about, but never actually stepped inside. Well, you figure now’s actually a pretty good time to do that as no one’s watching and you’d be a liar to admit you weren’t curious at a few points to see what exactly Falei has going on here. Better you do this while she and anyone else for that matter aren’t around. That way they’ll never know and never bring it up with you later.

Surprisingly, Falei actually locked the front door and the hatch in the roof, which you discover looks like it’s been locked for eons and was never used for anything anyway. But the back door, however, doesn’t exactly have the finest lock in the land. You’re able to disengage it with nothing but a coat hanger and that’s all she wrote.

You walk inside and take a look around, wondering just what the heck Falei was thinking with this strange lavender and violet color for the walls and this odd perfume-like smell wafting around. It’s not terrible, but you think this may be the only café in existence that does this kind of thing. Truthfully, it feels more like a spa than a café.

And the menu is just bizarre. The rumors were right, it’s more like you walked into some magical alchemist shop than a café. It almost seems like the kind of place you’d go with a bunch of reckless friends and dare each other to try things, though you imagine that would require getting pretty drunk and usually Pokémon only do that at night after this place has closed.

Sweet Dreams Café
Run by Falei the Misdreavus

MENU

• $[Sleepy Time Dream Tea] 250 Sochas$ (Instructions seem simple. “Drink before going to bed at night.” But it ends there and nothing is mentioned afterwards…)
• $[Magic Pie] 300 Sochas (Some say this pie will make you so happy that you’ll want to sing. Others say it’s so sugary that it makes them sick. There were claims one Pokémon flew to the stars riding on a comet and created their own world after eating it while another became frozen in time and now lives in an alternate dimension. There are a lot of stories surrounding Falei’s Magic Pie, but separating the fact from the fiction seems to be something no one ever thought to document and validate…)
• $[Fairy Bread] 500 Sochas$ (A delectable dessert from a faraway land’s recipe with strange rumors and an alluring aroma and aura. Some eat it and claim it’s a scam and doesn’t do anything at all while others claim it’s magical, can change destinies, grant powers unheard of, and can do things thought only possible in imagination. Some say the secret is to eat it away from prying eyes. Others say there’s no proof of the nonsense actually doing anything….)

The prices on these almost seems appalling, but you really wonder what the deal is with this place. And it actually really makes you question just who the heck is Falei and where does this stuff come from? Part of you is almost tempted to try, while the other part of you is skeptical. Well, you figure the place is closed for now anyway, so it doesn’t matter.

In the dining area, you find what looks like a blue cloth pouch that must have belonged to one of the café’s patrons. You almost wonder if they ate or drank something that whisked them away to a faraway dream land, but who knows. You open it up and suddenly an otherworldly ethereal glow comes out of it. When you find the source of it, you see what looks like a white cylinder made of a whiteish-silvery metal with glowing runic carvings.

You have a distinct feeling the Emissaries would be interested in this considering all the other stuff they’ve been collecting.

[Holy Conduit] was added to the Team Inventory.

After that, you feel you’ve pretty much covered everything and decide to head back. You can’t help but feel curious about what the Emissaries might do with this new information you’d found for them.

Scarlet the Weavile (M: Dark/Ice)

Health: 20/20 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 20/20
Battle Stance: Heroic

[Neo Emolga]

#18 Mika the Boltund has been murdered by the Stalkers.

Normally, Terene the Nickit was up for any kind of opportunity to get field experience. She had been an Aurorawatch Squire for too long, and was looking forward to that promotion she wanted to become a Knight, but more and more field experience was a must. So if there was an opportunity out there, she was ready to take it.

She wasn’t ready for this, however.

It was one thing when a civilian was killed and they had no family and often died alone. It was something horribly devastating when the victim was a mother with a husband and a child. Upon discovering the burnt and dehydrated body of Mika dumped just outside the front door of their home, besides her was Dret the Mightyena, angry and frustrated that he failed to protect his wife, and Duante the Yamper… Mika’s son, looking like his own soul was stripped out of him as all he could do was weep and cry.

Terene called for backup, and they had sent Safen the Politoed for support. It ended up not being one of Terene’s proudest moments after all. When he arrived at the scene, however, she too was a bit on the cautious side regarding Dret’s reaction, and even she had to be on her guard in case the Mightyena went berserk and lost control. All the while, Duante was whimpering in a way he had never done before, never ready to accept the fact his mother was gone, murdered and dead before him…

“What are you here for?” Dret growled, looking at the Aurorawatch soldiers out of the corner of his glaring eye. “If you’re going to tell me something, TELL ME RIGHT NOW!”

“We’re… here to investigate the murder of Mika,” Terene swallowed hard. “I’m… sorry for your loss.”

“And you should be,” Dret snarled at her. “Yes, you should be, BECAUSE YOU AURORAWATCH BASTARDS ARE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT US! WHAT THE DEVIL IS YOUR PURPOSE IF YOU FAIL AT THE ONLY THING YOU EXIST FOR!?”

“Just… calm down, okay?” Terene asked, backing away. “I know you’re hurting, but this shouting isn’t going to help.”

At the moment, Safen had given Dret a cold, hard glare. It was true that Dret could probably take down the Aurorawatch Squire rather easily, but against a Paladin like herself and all the training she had, it wasn’t going to turn out very well.

“I’ll tell you what, Dret,” Safen told the Mightyena, trying to defuse the situation. “You’re right, Aurorawatch is having a really hard time getting to the bottom of these Stalkers because we totally don’t have enough going on right now between OMEN, ghouls, and trying to get this city back to some kind of sensibility. Right, not at all.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!?” Dret shouted back at her.

“It means get it through your skull that our resources are thin and no one is safe,” Safen told Dret very directly. “That’s right, no one, not even you, your son, or Terene and myself here. If you want to cling onto hope that we’ll overcome this, that’s your prerogative, but the cold hard truth is things are getting worse. For all of us, not just you, not just Aurorawatch. If you have any brilliant suggestions on how to deal with this with the reality we’re facing, sure, I’m all ears, buck, but I need real objective answers, not wishful thinking. So whether you want to scream at me, my Squire, or at a god-forsaken wall, it doesn’t matter either way, because the ones who are really responsible don’t give a damn about you, your wife, or your son either.”

Dret was silent for a moment. He wasn’t expecting Safen to be so blunt in this moment of grieving, but the truth was Safren was a warrior and was no stranger to grizzly and grotesque forms of death in both combat and in dark situations like this. This was nothing new for her. She had seen Pokémon with their eyes ripped out, their heads missing, and in disgusting, bloody, meaty pieces strewn about like morbid confetti.

Dret wasn’t used to it the way she was, and he knew deep inside that this moment of devastation rendered him incapable of fighting. On top of that, what kind of father would he be if he tried to attack her, right when his son was gutted emotionally?

In the meantime, Safen decided to look over Mika’s body, observing that the mother Boltund looked like she had been cooked alive very slowly. And besides her seemed to be several pieces of paper, which Dret had overlooked before. Safen picked them up and it looked like one of them was a note.

It was from her killer.

I learned quite a bit about Mika over the past few days. I think we probably even could have been friends, though you know, it’s a little tricky to do that when she’s dead. Corpses aren’t too great for conversation, though they won’t ever disagree with you either!

Mika was the fun and friendly type. It’s always tough to see Pokémon like that go, especially when times kinda suck like they do now, but that’s how things are in good times and bad times. Things can be cool one day, and then just a total suck the next. And I imagine her husband Dret and that cute little Duante kid aren’t taking this well. Intact Exacta City families sure are tough to come by these days! The ones that are still around should count their blessings! Well, I guess this one can cross that of. Big ouch there.

Mika was a school teacher, which I’m sure isn’t going to have a nice effect on the kiddos either. I mean really, she seemed like the best teacher to have. Heck, if I had a kid, I’d want her to be my kid’s teacher. But again, that’s not how things go. Life can be a big suck sometimes.

Her last years weren’t much fun either. Mika was a thrill-seeker, loving travel, adventure, writing down her wonderful experiences in a journal to read later, all great memories and stuff. And then OMEN happened and she’s been cooped up here for years since then, unable to do all those things while trying to keep the family through all the junk in their lives. Though it kind of seems like the adventure came to her this time! I guess you can’t really complain then, and the whole family got in on it!

And with those experiences, yeah, two of the things Mika really hated were waiting and hot weather. Golly, that does make for a terrible combination. And it seemed like my hunch was right, she really didn’t like being locked in that blast chamber for five hours and be exposed to that kind of heat for that whole time. Must have been pretty boring and agonizing! Although if you’re in severe agony, can you really be bored, too? I dunno, I guess not. Ah well.

Oh, and I found one of EXCLUDE’s puzzles on her. Yeah, I get what EXCLUDE is trying to do and I get some kicks doing the same kind of thing myself, but this kind of thing isn’t my jam if you know what I mean. Sudoku, really? I’m not a numbers guy. And the void blots are just… eh, not classy. Depressing stuff, really. Me, I’d rather have some fun with this. You create something, you torture that something for a little while, and you remind it that things can suck sometimes but it’s funny for everyone else who can relate but doesn’t have to suffer in the “right here right now” kind of way. You know how it is.

Cheerio for now.
ASTRALNOX

“What is that you’re reading?” Dret asked Safren just after he had finished.

“You don’t want to know,” Safren replied coldly, crumpling up the paper. “Unless you really want to get pissed off.”

Shortly after, she had looked over the last sheet of paper, and she found the Sudoku fragment that ASTRALNOX was referring to. Where and how Mika came across this, she didn’t know, but she figured she would hold onto it for now. Chances were good this wouldn’t help Dret in any way either. There was something about it that was morbid and hollowing and Safren was pretty confident in her feelings that this would only bring Dret and Duante more misery and woe.

And it was one of the last things they needed at this dark time…

Doom Tracker:
4/40

[Neo Emolga]

Morning has arrived in Exacta City
Submit your Day 5: Day Cycle Actions now!

Time Remaining:
CLICK HERE

(Monday, December 28, 2020 11:00:00 PM EST)

Giving everyone some extra time to make actions as I know Christmas is this week, so take your time and enjoy the holiday! I also need the extra time myself, so it’s all good.

@EmeraldSky @Noblejanobii @Scytherwolf @SlickSlack @Lychee @AD @Suicune’s Fire @Shruikan @Chibi Altaria @Bulbasaur @James-Typhlosion @TylerNinetales

[AD]

LET. US. TRY. THIS. AGAIN.

Now, that I checked to see if something will happen at night, LETS TRY THE DAY. Let's see what remains of this hollowed land.

Investigate (34a) Hymn of Rebirth Cemetery

[C0L0R3D]

Despite the nights murder, Misty was oddly calm about it, maybe even a bit ignorant. She was only focused on the Stalker at hand.

"Astralnox shed their first blood, huh. I mean, there was no blood, but you get the idea."

Her expression falls a bit after saying that, but it isn't much.

"Even though I have all the money I need to help out Safen, I have other plans for now. First, I'll buy a “Handymon” Magazine from Exacta City Newsstand, and store that for later. Then I'll go and check out 19. Duante the Yamper. Poor guy..."

It was clear Misty had plans to finalize fixing that console she dug out from the sublevel a few days ago tonight..

[TylerNinetales]

I'll go and the (77) Jano Clinic and Urgent Care a look see.

[Noblejanobii]

Let's interview 40. Namrai the Steenee

[Neo Emolga]

LET. US. TRY. THIS. AGAIN.

Now, that I checked to see if something will happen at night, LETS TRY THE DAY. Let's see what remains of this hollowed land.

Investigate (34a) Hymn of Rebirth Cemetery

Insistent on finding what dark secrets might be lurking and hidden at the graveyard, you decide to make your way back there, crawling on your four heavy legs as opposed to flying this time. Oddly enough, the air this morning feels hot and stale, and the wind is a bit sporadic as it gusts hard at some points but then completely stops at others. It makes you wonder if the land and the world itself is slowly going mad.

On your way there, you carefully navigate through the Northern Reach, keeping vigilant watch on the streets for any signs of ghouls. Using buildings, abandoned vehicles, and other obstructions seems to prove effective as none of the ghouls detect your presence. Slowly but surely, you make it to the cemetery and at long last, you begin your search.

As you assess the many rows of headstones, markers, and plaques of varying sizes and shapes, you see there’s a mix of both old and new graves here. Some graves have become faded and almost illegible at this point, while others are only a few months old, just before the situation with the Stalkers started to become one more problem on top of many existing tribulations.

You also find an area of the cemetery that seems like all of the Pokémon buried here have the same type of square slab headstone and the same day of death: the 28th day of the month of Arka. As you gaze upon the rows and rows of hundreds upon hundreds of similarly-shaped headstones, it suddenly hits you what Arka 28th was.

It was the day OMEN happened.

And as you look upon the myriad of headstones, it sends a grim chill through your spine. All of them were prepared hastily, as you are very well aware whoever sought to bury all these dead had to do it quickly as even today the danger of being here is still very present. And as you look upon them, some of them have names, but there are many others that have nothing, a testament that whoever came across the buried dead’s bodies could not discern who they were, but sought to give them a proper burial anyway, something that still has been denied of many of the dead in the Southern Reach.

It pains you to think how many graves would be here if every single dead body out there was accounted for and placed here. You begin to think it’s very likely there simply wouldn’t be nearly enough space even with this giant field…

Returning back to the main graveyard, you find some of the more recent headstones, ones that look like they’ve only be here for a short while and they’re likely those that were either killed by OMEN infected or by the Stalkers themselves.

And then, as if by some dark perversion, you come across a dark caricature of a grave…

#Horrendous Isolation Aura – WATER (6 Sanity Damage)# Trap 20% Evasion Test: 78 out of 100: Failed!

But you don’t realize it until it’s too late. Upon looking up, all you see is a pair of h̥̮̮ͦ̎̿̃o̍̓̇ͣl͙͉l̓̍̎o̞̬̥̗̺͙͒w̗̳̦̟̿ͧͬ̋ eye sockets, and your gaze is suddenly e͈͚̘̳̤n͍̜̣̭͚s̰̦͉n̰̖a͇re͈̬͖̟̬ḍ͉ ͕̣b͇̹̪̯̳̝̳y͎̩͖͈ ͍̭̮͔͚̟an͇͕͚̱̞̗ ̲̝̭̫̫u̗̻̦̫̼̭̱nh̝̼̯̘͙̬ͅo̼͚̼͈̼̲l͍y̮̤ ̯̫̟̤̠e̻̰̭v͓̲ͅi͉̭̗l̲͕̬̪̥.

Like a deranged hallucination, your mind is suddenly plunged into d͎̳̦̺̽͌̏͂ͣ͆̂ē̤͖̺ͅs͖͍͈̟͐̌͑̈ͯp̰̥͙̭̊a̖̞̝͍̘̦͍͛ȋ̿͑͊̅̚ ̺̗̼̺̯r͇̱̯̥͌̑̈́ͩ̆̒. For a moment, the agony of drowning is all that you know, as if you’ve suddenly become trapped in the dark abyss of an endless sea that never ends in all directions. You try to swim, but you only sink further and further, and in your mind, it feels like a slow, inevitable, and hopeless death into an infinite b̦͖̫̹ͨͬ̒̒ͅl͚̿̑ͬ̈ͫâć̹̣͔̣̞̺̤̂͌k̻͍̣̘̯ͤ ̞̂͌a̤̦͇͈͈̩b̻͓͓͑̎̏̔̆̍ͫy̦̞̝s̰̥̝̩͔̮͓̓̊̂̓̄s̱̉̇ͭ where no one will ever find you as you sink alone into the silence.

Sacred has taken 12 damage to Sanity.

You suddenly awaken from the nightmare with a horrendous jolt, almost feeling like a terrible portion of your own mind was left behind to endlessly sink in the watery, breathless abyss of that horrific dream when your conscious left it. But as your own eyes look ahead, all you see are those same vacant hollow eyes, where it looks like some grim apparatus violently dug them out of some woefully unfortunate creature. Only then do you realize what they truly are: vacant, hollow eyes of a Sobble statue that’s part of a headstone.

And it’s absolutely filthy with Stalker presence…

#{Grave of the Lonely Sobble: Glass Stone Sobble Eye AND Missing Glass Sobble Eye} Horrendous Isolation Aura – WATER (6 Sanity Damage)# has been noted in the Team Records.

Telling yourself it’s only a statue doesn’t seem to help much. It doesn’t soothe the mental anguish and drowning madness of what you just endured.

You’re not sure if replacing the eyes might help, but you decide it’s worth pursuing. Something dark and nefarious is at work here and it would help to do something about it or at least figure out what’s going on here.

You decide to keep searching. You walk past several more rows of headstones, all of which seem to be more deceased Pokémon that perished after OMEN. But one of them strikes you as unusual. Unlike the mind-ravaging Sobble grave, this particular grave of white stone feels both hopeful and somber at the same time.

There is no name on the headstone, but instead a message:

“Tomb of the unknown angel.”

At first, you’re not quite sure what it means, but then it all makes sense. The Utopian relics that you and the other Emissaries have been finding. There were Utopian angels here at one point, very recently in fact, only their mission failed, and here lies one of them.

But there was something left behind. Something that even Syrax missed. But with all that has transpired, it’s not surprising that the Espeon overlooked it with all of the other things that have been on his mind lately. But where there was something once overlooked, you place your front right foot before the grave, and you pray. A warm, white light surrounds you as you reach out beyond the ethereal nether.

{Tomb of the Unknown Angel: <Seinaru>}

Let this be a sign that I am here. I am here, an Emissary among others to continue your work, to pursue the mission you could not complete. My name… is Sacred. If you can hear me, please respond…

At first, the prayer call is absorbed by the silence. But after a few passing seconds, you realize it didn’t go unheard. It simply had a long, long way to travel, and so did its response. But it only reaches you as the faintest and softest of whispers, but you are able to hear every word as it’s unlike all the perceives the senses. In the faint glimpse of a vision, you can perceive the ethereal visage of a Lycanroc.

Aidasha… is my name. I can fight no longer, but please… Sacred… carry onward where I cannot.

A sudden globe of white, soothing, tenacious light slowly rises from the grave, and it glows before you, filling you with a newfound determination. You hold out your front right foot, accepting Aisasha’s offering to you.

Sacred has equipped the [|UA| Angelic Warfury] (50% trigger chance user’s attacks attempt to strike all opposing enemies in the same combat turn. If there is only a single target, it becomes a 50% trigger chance of striking the sole enemy twice.)

After you absorb the aspect, you feel the angel’s warrior spirit flow within you. It is unlike anything you’ve felt before, but it leaves you feeling like you could strike down armies.

After taking a deep breath and coming to this new realization, you look back upon the white grave. Though the Pokémon of Exacta did not know who this was, you have come to the realization.

Using your power, you remove the words “Tomb of the Unknown Angel.” For a brief moment, the headstone is pure white. And then upon that stone, you engrave a new message so that all that come across this grave will finally know:

“Here lies Aidasha the Lycanroc, Warrior of Utopia.”

As you turn around to head back to base, you feel a sense of ease come across you and the surrounding area, a sense that despite all of the darkness that has befallen this land, it is as if a new candle has been lit and its light has joined the battle in pushing back the shadows.

Sacred the Heatran (M: Fire/Steel)

Health: 20/20 | Sanity: 8/20 | Purity: 20/20
Battle Stance: Heroic
Perk: Seinaru | Abilities:
EQUIPMENT:
Attack Weapon: <Empty>
Defense Armor: [|DA| Renegade’s Cloak] (Reduces incoming Health damage by 1 point each time Health damage is taken)
Jewelry: <Empty>
Utopian Aspect: [|UA| Angelic Warfury] (50% trigger chance user’s attacks attempt to strike all opposing enemies in the same combat turn. If there is only a single target, it becomes a 50% trigger chance of striking the sole enemy twice.)
MERCENARIES:
#1: <Empty>
#2: <Empty>
PACK:

• $408 Sochas$