Resolving Stalkers Season 5

[Lychee]

Ah, such cool reveals! And gosh, there was SO much more along each path. I love being able to see all the puzzles and am a bit sad we never got to solve them.


Speaking of spin-offs, I feel like it would be kinda cool to make a simple/smaller version of stalkers in RPGmaker to play as a quirky lil videogame... just to give to friends/PXR to try, for fun, for halloween this year! Would anyone be against that?

[Neo Emolga]

The Milotic? Wow, I hadn't even payed attention to them. Heck, we wouldn't even find out if was her because Borsei is, you know...kind of dead thanks to Astralnox. Speaking of them, let's see who Astralnox is and if he actually a Pokemon I dislike anyways!

Yeah, Alishia went pretty unnoticed for the entire game. Usually in Stalkers they get at least a little bit of attention, but in this one, it just didn’t happen with Alishia.

Anyway, as requested, here’s Astralnox’s!

ASTRALNOX – Daxu the Gengar

Spoiler:

Backstory
Daxu was always an extroverted social butterfly, which seems almost odd as a descriptor considering his species as a Gengar. But nonetheless, Daxu always seemed like a fun guy to be around. He made conversations about you rather than about himself. As a result, he had gained a lot of friends over the years and suddenly this “ghost guy” that usually was known for being nefarious didn’t seem so bad.

ASTRALNOX showed itself to Daxu.
It was quite an innocent encounter at first. Astralnox had found Daxu as a “spirit without a body” and pretended to be lost and not sure where he was supposed to be. Daxu, curious to know more about this “lost soul,” tried to get to know Astralnox a little better and learn more about him.

How ASTRALNOX twisted Daxu's expectation
Astralnox leveraged the OMEN attack against Daxu. Daxu never had experienced fear like this before, but thankfully he was one of the first to make it to the refugee encampment. Problem was, a lot of his friends and buddies didn’t and Daxu wasn’t sure if they’re still in the Reach or if they’re dead. He wanted to become one of the Seekers to venture into the Reach to look for survivors, but he was still considered a civilian and only the Pokémon allowed to be considered official Seekers are all members of Aurorawatch.

Astralnox said to hell with that and offered to help Daxu sneak out and go into the Reach to look for clues and any signs of his missing friends. Daxu, feeling like Astralnox really care about him and his friends, took him on his offer.

Murder process and signature
Daxu went from being a social butterfly to becoming a stalker in the truest sense. He wanted to learn everything about everyone, and Astralnox is constantly feeding him this raw, hideous, naked power of knowledge. Instead of finding friends, Daxu hunts out victims and wants to know everything, every little tidbit about them in a disturbing way. Victims killed by Daxu/Astralnox have all their information revealed as if Investigate was performed on them, only it’s useless because they’re dead and obviously not Stalkers themselves. But how does Astralnox even get this power? No one really knows.

Font: Grungy Style

Summary of story/route:
Astralnox’s main focus is a ridiculous amount of 4th wall breaking and Sanity damage is a real super trend on his route. Stalker graphics and items suddenly become customized on the Emissary finding them! Puzzles and graphics feature the Emissaries! Likes and dislikes that the players have are featured in his route! And they’re twisted and deranged in every way you can imagine. As much as possible is prepared in advance as far as graphics go, but there will be placeholders for things that are customized specifically for the player who comes across these twisted things.

Traps and hazards are hideous, they’re specifically customized to deal terrible amounts of Health damage specifically for the Emissary walking into them. Fire type? Get ready for some water and ground traps. Dragon? Here’s some ice and dragon breaths coming right up. It’ll feel like rotten luck in the beginning but eventually when players see everything they run into is specifically designed for them, they’ll catch on to the trend and it’ll be freaky.

Memento: An old Hollyville High School yearbook. Flipping through it, Emissaries will be presented with pictures of sports clubs, school plays, and of course, photo pages of all the students. Daxu was only a Haunter back then and deceptively his name will be among a long list of randomly generated Pokémon names. In order to realize whose Memento this is, they’ll need to compare the list of town civilians with the list of names in the yearbook to see who it belongs to.

If presented with the yearbook prior to the final battle, Daxu will just claim he doesn’t have the time to sign it and will go back to focusing on figuring out what he can do to find his lost friends.

Getting the yearbook is a bit trickier than most mementos. It requires the Emissaries to find the “Wall Vault” safe, which is in terrible shape and needs a new circuit board, needs to be reprogrammed, and even after all that, still needs the original 8-digit passcode.

(14b) Western Side Aurorawatch Military Bunker

[Damaged “Wall Vault” Circuit Board: <Repair>

(84) J&T Trucking (ABANDONED)]

{Injured Lucario: <Medicine>}

[8-digit Passcode]

(17) North Heights Storage (ABANDONED)

{“Wall Vault” Safe: Missing Circuit Board AND <Technical> AND <8-Digit Passcode>}

[Hollyville High School Yearbook Memento]

Astralnox's Stalker Route



The main feature of Astralnox’s Stalker route is its freakish tendencies to break the fourth wall and make it personal with the Emissaries. Anywhere there is a **Custom** mark, the player that comes across it gets inserted into that item or feature. So say if a Bob the Pikachu character comes across the **Custom** Payment, it’s their Bob the Pikachu character that’s going to be on the item or image (jigsaw puzzle in cases of Payments). Initially, it does some Sanity damage to see their own self getting placed into macabre items and situations (seeing their own head, putting together a puzzle with them looking freakish). If it so happens that they already have an item of the same type made for them, then another Emissary is chosen at random (so at most only one player will have a Payment and Head each).

What’s worse is when the items are turned in as offerings, they function like a voodoo doll and the Emissaries tied to the item take damage! This can be brutal as Emissaries can now take damage outside of their own turns, which could be fatal if they’re not ready for it!

The route itself focuses on ultimately The Fourfold Dark Payment, where the tortured depictions of four Emissaries are paid. Each of these Payments is pretty brutal. Essentially, whoever comes across the Payment has a deranged and twisted image of their Pokémon character put into a freakish jigsaw puzzle. Puzzle needs to be assembled, and then needs to be readied for the Fourfold Dark Payment. It’s brutal.

XXXs = Character’s Name
YYYs = Character’s Pokémon Species

PATH OF THE FIRST DARK PAYMENT

To get the first Payment, the Emissaries need to bring three of their own Emissary heads to {The Assembly of Heads} for sacrifice. Essentially, to any Emissary, coming across your own severed head is going to do Sanity Damage upon first discovery (3 Sanity damage up front) and then handling the head does one more (to anyone using it). But when taken to the {Assembly of Heads}, the ensuring sacrificial holocaust causes some Health damage then (3 Health). It’s a good warning and prelude as to what this route is all about!

(20) Exacta City Police Precinct (ABANDONED)

#Macabre Discovery – Decapitated Self (8 Sanity Damage)
#[Head of XXX the YYY] Macabre Presence – (3 Sanity Damage)#

(39) Newpoint Building (ABANDONED)

#Macabre Discovery – Decapitated Self (8 Sanity Damage)
#[Head of XXX the YYY] Macabre Presence – (3 Sanity Damage)#

(52) West Exacta River Bridge (ABANDONED)

#Macabre Discovery – Decapitated Self (8 Sanity Damage)
#[Head of XXX the YYY] Macabre Presence – (3 Sanity Damage)#

(40) Memorial Heart Hospital (ABANDONED)

#{Assembly of Heads Sacrificial Altar: Head Mount AND Head Mount AND Head Mount} Infernal Essence – (5 Sanity Damage and 5 Purity Damage)#
==Using the Heads causes 7 Health and 7 Sanity Damage to each of the head owners==

[Dark Payment of XXX the YYY: <Repair>]

PATH OF THE SECOND DARK PAYMENT

Super, super easy, there’s essentially no legwork to this at all. In fact, it’s scary for the fact that anyone can come across this wicked thing and be totally unprepared for it. Too bad, you’ve become Dark Payment #2 whether you like it or not! Also, there’s a nice booby trap by it that customizes itself to be super-effective against whoever blunders into it!

(69) Westmarch Manufacturing Compound (ABANDONED)

#Deranged Element – SUPER-EFFECTIVE TYPE (6 Health Damage, 6 Purity Damage)#
[Dark Payment of XXX the YYY: <Repair>]

PATH OF THE THIRD DARK PAYMENT

Just so peeps don’t get too cozy, this part has the player lose a chunk of their Purity or Sanity up front and it gets handed to them in item form! But wait, there’s more! When it gets used at the Oblivion Offering at the lovely tourist attraction of the very heart of the OMEN crater, it chews up some more. Oh, and whoever does that Oblivion Offering gets the next Dark Payment made for them, also! Boy, what a deal!

(54a) Exacta City Maximum Security Prison – Main Prison Structure (ABANDONED)

#Siphon Soul (6 Purity Damage)#
[Innocence of XXX the YYY]

(71) Erodos Elder Care (ABANDONED)

#Siphon Lucidity (6 Sanity Damage)#
[Serenity of XXX the YYY]

(76) The OMEN Crater (ABANDONED)

#{Oblivion Offering: Craving for Innocence AND Craving for Serenity} Unholy Nefarious Essence – (6 Sanity Damage and 6 Purity Damage)#
==Causes 10 Purity Damage to the Innocence owner==
==Causes 10 Sanity Damage to the Serenity owner==

[Dark Payment of XXX the YYY: <Repair>]

PATH OF THE FOURTH DARK PAYMENT

The fourth Dark Payment is a little on the easy side. It’s similar to the third, except a player gives up some of their blood as the tribute offering and it’s used for a fountain. Once the blood gets the fountain running, the player who gave up the blood takes more health damage while the one inserting it gets a Dark Payment customized just for them!

(78) Tancel Bottling Plant (ABANDONED)

#Siphon Extractor (6 Health Damage)#
[Blood of XXX the YYY]

(46) Ashen Park (ABANDONED)

{Dried Fountain: Offering of Blood}
#Deranged Element – SUPER-EFFECTIVE TYPE (5 Health Damage, 5 Sanity Damage)#
==Causes 10 Health Damage to the Blood owner==

[Dark Payment of XXX the YYY: <Repair>]

FINAL STRETCH

And here’s where it all comes together!

(64) Bridgeheights Tower (ABANDONED)

{The Fourfold Dark Payment: Dark Payment AND Dark Payment AND Dark Payment AND Dark Payment}
#Deranged Element – SUPER-EFFECTIVE TYPE (5 Health Damage, 5 Sanity Damage)#
==Causes 15 Health, 15 Sanity, and 15 Purity Damage each Dark Payment owner==

THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF SOULS [Astralnox’s Phylactery]

Puzzles:


[Dark Payment of XXX the YYY] Template
XXX’s get filled in with the character’s name, YYY’s with the character’s species, and that Pikachu Silhouette placeholder gets filled in with a very effed-up image of whoever the victim is! Makes for a lovely jigsaw puzzle the whole family can enjoy!


[Dark Payment of XXX the YYY] Template
Same as the first one, but this time in a creepy factory setting! Nothing like seeing your own character look twisted, deranged, and all zombie-like, eh? Best is doing it piece by piece via a jigsaw!


[Dark Payment of XXX the YYY] Template
I mean really, what did you think was going to happen when you decided to pay the OMEN crater a visit and chuck the materialized innocence and serenity of your player friends into oblivion? Something happy? Nah, you got a fresh Dark Payment made after yourself, that’s what!


It’s like a walk in the park! Except the park is evil. And haunted. And you’re there, looking all twisted up and stuff. Oof!


Lucario <Medicine>


Lucario <Medicine> Solutions

Graphics:


From the Torture Chamber of Souls! Welcome, friend!

Yeah the reveals are always kind of interesting. I remember there was one season, 3? I think?, where one of the stalkers ended up being the first interview I did that route so I was completely heartbroken to discover it was her all along. My character ended up not being the one to take her out, which I feel like would’ve been a more fun conclusion, but I still vividly remember the shock and how betrayed I felt upon the initial reveal. XD

Yeah, I think it was Franny the Mismagius from Season 3, who ended up being Bloodwish. Writing up her exorcism was pretty crazy. A battle with an abomination right in the middle of a children’s hospital with kids too sick to move. That’s definitely dicey!

Also, my absolute favorite Stalker of all time… Yandil the Smeargle as Overkill. This was a naughty reverse psychology experiment that preyed on peoples’ tendencies to tread carefully and the results were hilarious. The Stalker that everyone in town blamed and talked about and accused of being a Stalker. And there was plenty of evidence, also! It’s just I made it seem too easy. Too easy to believe and yet everyone was right.

Ah, such cool reveals! And gosh, there was SO much more along each path. I love being able to see all the puzzles and am a bit sad we never got to solve them.


Speaking of spin-offs, I feel like it would be kinda cool to make a simple/smaller version of stalkers in RPGmaker to play as a quirky lil videogame... just to give to friends/PXR to try, for fun, for halloween this year! Would anyone be against that?

It would be awesome to see Stalkers as a video game, but I have very, very limited programming experience and I’ve never used RPGmaker, so I don’t even know how to get started with it. And yeah, there was a LOT more to Season 5, and even I tried to make things easier with Syrax the Espeon helping out, but it just wasn’t doing the job. If it was really close and coming down to the wire, I’d say ah, just keep on trucking through it, but nah, there’s just so much extra stuff to go through and I’m just burnt. Oof.

I think if I were to do this again, it HAS to be much smaller with a lot of these "extra features" out no matter how nice they seem. See, Season 1 and Season 3 worked GREAT, but the issue I had with Season 2 and 5 was just getting carried away with add-ons and “oh, gotta make this the grand finale, so… here’s a heap of stuff I think will be great.” It ended up being too much extra baggage, even if it looks like it would be awesome to see implemented.

These lessons learned are painful. :P

[Noblejanobii]

Man I remember Overkill because I think he was one of the two stalkers that we straight up knew was a stalker but didn’t want to believe was one because it was so obvious!

And yeah it was Franny!! So betrayed TuT

[Lychee]

Ah!! I remember hearing about that smeargle when we figured out a butterfree was a stalker in a later season! Whew boy there was some good discussion about what to do with him.

And oh, Neo! I wasnt saying YOU should make it!
I want to! And I was looking for your permission to give it a go. It's your concept originally, right? Can I try?

[C0L0R3D]

Oof, just wanting to help his friends and Daxu got overtaken? Yikes, I feel bad for him now... anyway, let's see what Labyrinth's been hiding next.

[Neo Emolga]

Man I remember Overkill because I think he was one of the two stalkers that we straight up knew was a stalker but didn’t want to believe was one because it was so obvious!

And yeah it was Franny!! So betrayed TuT

The crazy thing was everyone had uncovered absolutely everything there was to find about Overkill/Yandil, but there were still doubts. It wasn’t until the Sin Purge Ritual happened that people realized “oh, it really was him all along.” XD

And yeah, poor Franny. It was ugly what happened to her.

Ah!! I remember hearing about that smeargle when we figured out a butterfree was a stalker in a later season! Whew boy there was some good discussion about what to do with him.

And oh, Neo! I wasnt saying YOU should make it!
I want to! And I was looking for your permission to give it a go. It's your concept originally, right? Can I try?

Ah yeah, Orin. Man, that guy had a crazy backstory. XD And yep, that dude was very controversial!

Hey, give it a shot if you feel up for it! I don’t know much about that stuff but if you want to take a swing at it, try it and hopefully things go well and smoothly with it. :3

Oof, just wanting to help his friends and Daxu got overtaken? Yikes, I feel bad for him now... anyway, let's see what Labyrinth's been hiding next.

Yeah, no one suspects the friendly Gengar. XD

As for Labyrinth, sure! Bet you weren’t expecting this!

LABYRINTH – Taliea the Azumarill

Spoiler:

Backstory
Once the mother of a beautiful, growing family, Taliea is now alone. Unknown to most, she’s suffering from dementia. She barely survived the OMEN strikes three months ago and believes she was separated from her husband, Kartin the Clefable, and her two Azurill children, Tali and Kakon. Despite her dementia, she vividly describes mobs of fleeing, panicked Pokémon causing the family to become separated, and Taliea has been desperately trying to beg with Axken and Nytalia to search for them in the Reach, only to be denied because it’s too dangerous. Frustrated, depressed, and a bit angry, she was only able to sit by hopelessly as continuous earthquakes rock and further twist an already ravaged world.

The truth is Kartin, Tali, and Kakon died in an apartment complex fire three years ago. She never got to see the bodies, so their deaths never felt real to her in the first place. Her ongoing hallucinations of them and their voices get her thinking they’re still alive. After the OMEN strike, it pushed her further into the brink of insanity, believing the hysteria is what caused her to become separated from them.

LABYRINTH showed herself to Taliea.
A mother’s desperation was exactly the kind of prey Labyrinth was hoping for. The dark spirit had found Taliea, pretending to be a spirit guide that could help Taliea track down her family in the Reach. Labyrinth promised to conceal her, protect her, and help her look for signs that could lead up to her missing family members.

How Labyrinth twisted Taliea's expectation
Labyrinth tricked Taliea by first having her wander around aimlessly, pursuing false leads created by her hallucinations while having her think she was making progress. At times, Taliea was led to believe she was finding breadcrumbs of clues that might lead to her family’s whereabouts, but instead, she slowly became a puppet for Labyrinth after putting her last traces of trust into the spirit that betrayed her.

Murder process and signature
Labyrinth’s victims are killed from wanderlust, losing their way in a delusional maze of false turns and predatory illusions that constantly causes them to find familiar things completely foreign among never-ending corridors and pathways. The effect is exhausting mentally and physically exhausting, and victims find themselves braindead, never escaping from a maze that only existed in their mind.

Font: Coraje Leve

Summary of story/route:
The big mystery behind Taliea and Labyrinth will get the Emissaries wondering is her family actually still alive, or were they just additional victims of the Reach or the OMEN strike three months ago? During the whole route, Taliea’s story seems very believable and her story is described in vivid details. Taliea also seems very rational when players interview her and she shares similar experiences with others that lost friends or family in the OMEN strike and don’t know where they are.

Labyrinth’s route focuses on just being plain lost and has a confusing feeling to it. Several parts of her route even have dead ends or strange clues that actually don’t help in any way at the end or just leave messages of perplexity to the players.

Memento: Kartin, Tali, and Kakon funeral mass cards

The existence of these cards has been buried deep within the confines of Taleia’s mind. Her dementia has caused her to forget them and where in the house they were, but they exist. But there was a time three years ago when she had to work with the funeral parlor to pick the imagery and the prayer on them, as well as to confirm the full name. If the Emissaries present the cards to her before the fight, Taliea simply turns away in a suspicious fashion, calling them fake or claiming she’s got “really important other things to take care of.”

[u]27. Vemmi the Banette[u]

<Diplomacy> OR $200 Sochas$ - [Dusty Lilligant Dancer Figurine]

(44) Namasha Apartment Lofts

{Dusty Dancer Plate: Missing Dancer Figurine}

#Incindinary Explosive – FIRE (5 Health Damage)#
[Burnt Trunk Key]

(33) Blue Brook Residential Buildings

{Burnt Trunk: Burnt Trunk Keyhole}

[Funeral Cards Memento]

LABYRINTH's Stalker Route



Because mazes are Labyrinth’s main theme, there’s quite a bit of lockpicking to be done, as lockpickers get treated to a maze to do. The other thing about Labyrinth’s route is that there are also three smaller “false” routes that just take the players to a cryptic message and do nothing else. So the whole route itself is mazes within a maze. The “true” route has more maze-like themes, including the woven, knotted, and twisted tributes. The others seem slightly related, but nah, they just go nowhere.

FALSE ROUTE ONE

False Route #1 is fairly simple and doesn’t really lay on the hurt for the players. Collect both the Left and the Right Hands of The Forgotten One Statue (a Mr Mime without hands) and be treated to a Cryptic Message that won’t advance things. It’s just a dead end. :P

(12) Daybreak School

Left Hand of the Forgotten One

(8) Sapphire Oasis Jewelry Store

Right Hand of the Forgotten One

(28) Riverside Park

{The Forgotten One Statue: Missing Left Hand AND Missing Right Hand}

=Forgotten Cryptic Message=

FALSE ROUTE TWO

False Route #2 is the biggest suck out of all of them, as it’s the longest and even has a <Security> instance and maze only to get nothing but another Cryptic Message. Also, unlike False Route #1, FR#2 has the Emissaries going into more dangerous territory! Here, the Emissaries collect two [Glass Sobble Eye]s and bring it over to the {Grave of the Lonely Sobble: Missing Glass Sobble Eye AND Missing Glass Sobble Eye}. What’s even more aggravating about this False Route is that there’s a few traps around on the eyes and the grave itself!

(53) West Exacta River Bridge (ABANDONED)

The Blasted Door: <Security>

#[Glass Sobble Eye] Morose Conduit – WATER (4 Sanity Damage)#

(77) Jano Clinic and Urgent Care (ABANDONED)

Tight Rubble Pit: <Small Pokémon Size>

#[Glass Sobble Eye] Morose Conduit – WATER (4 Sanity Damage)#

(34a) Hymn of Rebirth Cemetery

#{Grave of the Lonely Sobble: Glass Stone Sobble Eye AND Missing Glass Sobble Eye} Horrendous Isolation Aura – WATER (6 Sanity Damage)

=Lonely Cryptic Message=

FALSE ROUTE THREE

False Route #3 isn’t quite as nasty as #2, but it’s not as painless as #1. It mainly features two useless items, the [Enigmatic Watch] and the [Enigmatic Hourglass] that go into the {Timeless Chamber Hatch}, which then takes them to the third but not actually useful Cryptic Message. The theme of this little useless route is lost time.

(50) Oaktrail Retail Stores (ABANDONED)

#[Enigmatic Watch] Unhinged Complexities – STEEL (4 Sanity Damage, 4 Purity Damage)

(66) Greenyard Apartments Ruins (ABANDONED)

#[Enigmatic Hourglass] Hollow Hallucination – GROUND (4 Sanity Damage, 4 Purity Damage)

(75) Treadstone Community College (ABANDONED)

{Timeless Chamber Hatch: Missing Watch AND Missing Hourglass}#The Disillusioned

=Aging Cryptic Message=

THE TRUE ROUTE

The True Route is a tinge bit more complicated. First, the Emissaries need to get the three Bands, and from those Bands, the three Tributes. And it all has to do with mazes with two more Lockpicking puzzles to do. Traps in these cases often cause Health damage.

(26) Kindred Park (ABANDONED)

#{The Coiled Door: <Security>} Deranged Rose Thorns – GRASS (4 Health Damage, 4 Purity Damage)

[Band of Resolve]

(38) Akiseth Construction (ABANDONED)

#{Frustration Pedestal: Resolve Corrective} Mental Anguish – PSYCHIC (6 Health Damage)

[The Woven Tribute]

43. Esler the Malamar

<Diplomacy> - [Band of Infinity]

(76c) OMEN Crater Southwest, Ruined Commercial District (ABANDONED)

#{Endless Pit: Resolve Infinity} Soulfrozen Agony - ICE (6 Health Damage, 6 Purity Damage, 6 Sanity Damage)

[The Knotted Tribute]

(79) Feroz Distribution Center (ABANDONED)

#{The Warped Lock: <Security>} Ethereal Agony – GHOST (4 Sanity Damage, 4 Purity Damage)#

[Bloodstained Toy Maze Cube]

(70) Daluco Toy Store (ABANDONED)

#{The Wandering Child Mount: Toy Maze Containment} Barbed Edges – NORMAL (6 Health Damage)#

[Band of Focus]

(63) Dortan Storage Facility (ABANDONED)

#{Altar of Confusion: Resolve Focus} Fae Bewilderment – FAIRY (5 Health Damage, 7 Sanity Damage)#

[The Twisted Tribute]

(86) The Foreman Building (ABANDONED)

@{The Dark Labyrinth Wall: Woven Tribute AND Knotted Tribute AND Twisted Tribute} Corrupted Shadow Presence – DARK (4 Health Damage, 6 Sanity Damage, 6 Purity Damage)#

[The Twisted Tribute]
THE WINDING ENIGMA
@Bewildering Abyssal Presence (10 Sanity Damage, 10 Purity Damage)@
[Labyrinth’s Phylactery]#
=Winding Enigma Message=

Puzzles:


The Blasted Door Lockpicking


The Blasted Door Lockpicking Solution


The Coiled Door Lockpicking


The Coiled Door Lockpicking Solution


The Warped Door Lockpicking


The Warped Door Lockpicking Solution

Graphics:


=Forgotten Cryptic Message=


=Lonely Cryptic Message=


=Timeless Cryptic Message=


=Winding Enigma Message=


At the end of Labyrinth’s Route

[C0L0R3D]

0_0
That's just screwed up, Neo....good job. You make me want to do a Stalker like RP myself sometimes, even if I'm clueless on how to do it. Anywho, that's four Stalkers off the list if I'm right. So, Huskpuppet. We know they're confirmed female, but which female is it?

[Neo Emolga]

0_0
That's just screwed up, Neo....good job. You make me want to do a Stalker like RP myself sometimes, even if I'm clueless on how to do it. Anywho, that's four Stalkers off the list if I'm right. So, Huskpuppet. We know they're confirmed female, but which female is it?

It's... a lot of work, although don't do as much as I did. If I kept it sane and was something I could handle, eh... this poll never would have been necessary, but ah well. :P I think individually, the Stalkers were fine, but when you put them all together, it just ends up being monstrously huge collectively. Where I think this would shine more is having more graphics, less junk to have to sift through. The graphics are fun and I'm always more than happy to pop them in there. And they don't have to be puzzles either, just creepy deranged notes and crap on walls is always fun. >:3

Huskpuppet wasn't anything too fancy, just the three diary pages that you guys found and then 9 battles, but you'll get to see her background story. I'll also show Twistagen while we're here so that will cover all of them.

TWISTAGEN – Jagin the Floatzel

Spoiler:

Backstory
Architect by trade, Jagin was known to be a designer of buildings and took pride in his work. As his personality goes, he’s very meticulous with extreme attention to detail. Despite being very well organized and sometimes obsessive about quality, he was more concerned about maximizing efficiency than doing anything creative with his buildings just for time and money’s sake. However, the major stumbling block he came across time and time again was time.

TWISTAGEN showed itself to Jagin.
Twistagen approached Jagin very business-like, knowing that was simply the way Jagin operated. “Faster, better, cheaper” was the motto that Twistagen promised, though Jagin was skeptical at first and had already heard plenty of other gimmicks that failed to deliver. Twistagen not only promised to teach Jagin how to create building designs that would perform their function beautifully, but that he would have access to resources that would be able to construct these building designs quickly and effectively in very little time. What he needed Jagin’s help was finding contractors and clients that would have the spaces reserved within Exacta. Jagin, with Twistagen guiding him, would then create new and improved buildings with a new and revolutionary style that was sure to reshape Exacta’s skyline.

How TWISTAGEN twisted Jagin's expectation
What Twistagen showed Jagin were structures straight out of the Abyss, mainly to Twistagen’s amusement. Jagin, very skeptical of how his clients would react when they saw unholy ziggurats, foreboding towers, and other macabre structures, decided the deal was off despite Twistagen’s claims of efficiency. But it was too late, and Jagin had already allowed Twistagen to sink into him just enough to take over the skeptical Floatzel. Where Jagin was once orderly, his persona became deranged, twisted, chaotic, and scrambled. But never random. Twistagen forced Jagin to take what was once in order, and make it utterly distorted.

Murder process and signature
Twistagen’s victims are found with their flesh and bones twisted, pulled, scrambled, and chaotically arranged like a hideous puppet wrap. Meanwhile, Twistagen’s writings and images are puppet-wrapped and warped in macabre ways. Words are often rearranged into chaotic anagrams of their previous forms.

Font:
DK Mothman

Summary of story/route:
Twistagen has scrambled most of Jagin’s work, putting what appears to be mindless scrawl on his pictures and documents, but the letters can be rearranged to form words. “Decoding” most of Twistagen’s texts gives clues as to where the next pieces of the route are. Twistagen adores and is proud of his own chaos, keeping a kind of deranged and demonic diary of his allocates and dark work.

Memento: Jagin’s Diploma in Architectural Engineering from Goldmarch University. Despite having a rough childhood, graduating from a very tough and high-level Ivy League-like school was the start of a better life and fulfillment of Jagin’s dreams.

Thankfully, the Emissaries don’t need to go too far. The entire Memento mini-route is all at one location, but it’s got a number of steps. Also, it gives a vital clue, Jagin is a Stalker, but they definitely need to do the rest of his route if they don’t want to get wrecked when they fight him.

(67) Ruined Rexem Skyscraper (ABANDONED)

{Damaged Elevator: ^Medium Pokémon^}

{Rubble-Filled Hallways: +Rock Type+}

{Secured Steel Locker: <Lockpick>}

[Jagin’s Diploma in Architectural Engineering Memento]

Twistagens's Stalker Route


Twistagen’s route starts relatively tame, and then goes down a very dark, grizzly rabbit hole. At the end, the Emissaries have to deal with an ugly and painful room made of flesh and nasty mechanical parts like someone messed up making a giant cyborg. To get in there, they need to find three hideous parts to open The Mechanical Chaos Flesh Door. Yeah, whoever goes inside better know what they’re doing and be ready for anything.

PATH OF THE MECHANIZED BONE KEY OF SUAGINH

Probably the trickiest of the three parts, to get the bone key, players need to crack open the Torture Cage of the Damned with the Deranged Codec and the Wrath Stone of NECOMID. The Codec requires <Technical> work on it once they get it from Salio the Murkrow with good rapport. Saadat the Dewott just needs a good rapport interview to fork over the Wrath Stone of NECOMID, which he’s honestly more than happy to get rid of (a low rapport score might make him think the Emissary is up to no good with it).

59. Salio the Murkrow

#[Deranged Codec: <Technical>] Insanity Presence – (5 Sanity Damage)#

#[Deranged Codec Primed] Infernal Presence – (5 Sanity Damage)

10. [SQE] Saadat the Dewott

#[Wrath Stone of the NECOMID] Mind-warp Presence – (2 Sanity Damage)#

(82a) Vancedyke Shipping Center – Vancedyke Shipyard and Receiving

#{Torture Cage of the MADEND#

#[Mechanized Bone Key of SUAGINH] Abomination Visions – (6 Sanity Damage)

PATH OF THE APPARATUS OF EIMYSR

Because misery loves company! The path for the Apparatus of EIMYSR is fairly straightforward. Get the Schism Key from Vio and bring it to the Schism Chamber! Only thing is Vio doesn’t give up the key easily. Despite not being a Stalker, she’s still a little crazy and possessive about it, so only Diplomacy will work.

39. Vio the Hatterene: <Diplomacy>

#[Twisted Schism Key] Angst Essence – POISON (3 Sanity Damage)#

(32) Exacta Fire Department Building

#[The Schism Chamber: Twisted Schism Keyhole] Agony Ichor – POISON (3 Sanity Damage)#

#[Apparatus of EIMYSR} – Draconic Agony – DRAGON (6 Sanity Damage)

PATH OF THE BLOODY RAZOR CHAIN MECHANISM OF TAHE

It’s got a crazy long name, but it’s quite a nasty thing. First, players need to meet up with Lucky and Isaiah and they get the [Punch Card Key] from them, which needs to be taken to the keycard reader at the manufacturing floor. After finding an usual, demonic machine, they need a Steel type Pokémon to dismantle the machine to get the [Bloody Razor Chain Mechanism of TAHE].

(3) Redstone Motel

[Punch Card Key]

(80) Boyle Factory

{Ruined Manufacturing Floor Punch Card Reader: Punch Card Access}

#{Infernal Machine: +Steel Type+} Aura of Depredation – STEEL (5 Sanity and 5 Purity Damage)

#[Bloody Razor Chain Mechanism of TAHE] Bloody Infernal Ichor Edges – STEEL (7 Health Damage, 5 Purity Damage)

IT COMES TOGETHER

Imagine a twisted room made of moving, consuming flesh with mechanical gadgets and junk mixed in. That’s this place! Whoever goes in there better make sure they’re in good shape, because there’s a lot of mess in there that they’re bound to not forget!

(25) NECC Chemical Plant

#[The Mechanical Chaos Flesh Door: Keyhole of ANGUISH AND Socket of MISERY AND Disrupted Engine of HATE} Hellish Infernal Charge – ELECTRIC (5 Health Damage, 5 Purity Damage)#

@FLESH WARPING CONSUMPTION (7 Health Damage, 7 Sanity Damage, 7 Purity Damage)@
THE LIVING FLESH ROOM – [Twistagen’s Phylactery]

BONUSES

These extra wall messages give some insight as to who to talk to for pieces of Twistagen’s route. If they can unscramble them, the first will lead them to Salio the Murkrow while the second will point them toward Vio the Hatterene. Not necessary to find, but helpful nonetheless.

(15) Sunberry Motel

Graphic: =Twisted Wall Message=

(36) Auto Acolytes Vehicle Repair Center (ABANDONED)

Graphic: =Macabre Stone Message=

Puzzles:


[Deranged Codec] Puzzle


[Deranged Codec] Solution


{Secured Steel Locker: <Lockpick>} Memento Lock


Secured Steel Locker Lockpick Solution

Graphics:


=Twisted Wall Message=
Actually reads:
“You can talk to Salio
Salio sleeps with it
But it drives the child mad
Maybe he can be
My future disciple”

Gives the players a clue that Salio the Murkrow has the Deranged Codec.


=Macabre Stone Message=
Actually reads:
“I can sense in the darkness
Vio
Damn Vio
That stone does not belong
To her
Consume her
Consume her whole!”


THE LIVING FLESH ROOM VISION

HUSKPUPPET - Fiveria the Musharna

Spoiler:

Backstory
Once a kind and gentle soul, Fiveria was the kind of lady that loved to sew and create dolls and plushies for children, very often free of charge. As a widow, it helped her get her mind off of the recent loss of her husband, Ebber the Grumpig, but she enjoyed the feeling of creating little dolls and plush toys for good children, especially for their birthdays and holidays.

As time went on, Fiveria’s paws became crippled with arthritis, and trying to do the work she used to love was becoming more and more painful. For her, it was depressing, and soon enough, the feelings of loneliness and helplessness were closing in on her again.

HUSKPUPPET showed itself to Fiveria. Huskpuppet whispered to Fiveria during one of her nightly prayer sessions. At first, Fiveria believed the dark spirit was in fact good based by her arrival, and Huskpuppet played it off that way. The dark Enthraller first lied to Fiveria, claiming her dead husband was in good hands when really Huskpuppet had no knowledge regarding his whereabouts. And then, pretending to be sympathetic about Fiveria’s arthritis pains, mentioned that she might have a solution for that. Fiveria, liking the idea of being able to use her paws again, was expecting Huskpuppet to bestow a cure, but Huskpuppet fooled Fiveria into thinking it was more of a exercise and physical therapy process.

How HUSKPUPPET twisted Fiveria's expectation
Fiveria slowly surrendered herself to Huskpuppet’s guidance and control, wanting to regain the full use of her paws and create dolls again. What first started off as a few simple hand exercises eventually turned into assimilation. At first, Fiveria was slowly feeling better, but Huskpuppet told her in order for her to fully recover, she needed more control. Once it was too late to go back, Huskpuppet took full control over the Musharna’s body, and used her passion to create abominations.

Murder process and signature
Victims are first impaled through the eyes, and then the grotesque process of sucking out all their innards through their eye sockets and mouth begins until they are completely empty, warping bones and large organs in order to vacuum them out. Then, once the dark work is completed, victims are filled with a demonically possessed stuffing, causing the corpses to become reanimated.

Font: Skeetch

Summary of story/route:
Huskpuppet’s route is combat hell. Almost every step of the way involves running into a gutted and reanimated victim or some demonically possessed doll that attacks whoever runs into them. Meanwhile, Sanity damage is a common theme.

Huskpuppet’s route involves finding nine of her puppets, all of which used to be normal, living Pokémon. Each of the nine puppets is carrying a fragment of the Undeath Keystone which is needed to unlock her DEMONIC PUPPET WORKSHOP, which isn’t a place for the faint of heart (and involves more attacking reanimated puppets). These nine puppets are scattered about Exacta City in random locations, but there are three diary entries. Each diary entry gives a clue as to the behavior of the three puppets and where they can be found. So either the Emissaries will stumble into these puppets at random, or they can use these entries as a guide and be prepared. Chances are good it’ll be a combination of both until the Undeath Keystone is completed.

Memento: The Worn Heart Plush. It was Fiveria’s first creation in a sewing class she made as a child, and she originally made it for her mother. It brings happy memories of how her mother was impressed by its creation, and she tried to hold onto it the best she could despite all that’s happened.

If the Emissaries try to present it to her early, she claims she has no interest in it and “isn’t buying anything today.”

68. Racha the Skwovet

[Bunnelby Doll Head]

(51) Frasha’s Seafood Restaurant (ABANDONED)

{Headless Bunnelby Doll: Missing Head}

[Forgotten Metallic Footlocker Key]

(85) South Valley Industrial Storage Units (ABANDONED)

{Forgotten Metal Footlocker: +Grass Type+ AND ^Large Pokémon^ AND Forgotten Metallic Footlocker Keyhole}

[Worn Heart Plush Memento]

Huskpuppet's Stalker Route



Huskpuppet’s puppets behave like normal combatants, but besides doing Health damage, they’ll also attack the Emissary’s Purity. Their Loot Wheel behaves as follows:

HUSKPUPPET PUPPET LOOT WHEEL
100% Chance – 50-300 Sochas
20% Chance of |AW| Adds a 1d6 of (Randomized Element) damage
20% Chance of |DA| +2 Maximum Health Stat
10% Chance of [|JY| +2 Maximum Sanity Stat
5% Chance of |AA| Infernal Vigor (10% Chance of doubling damage)

(54) Exacta City Maximum Security Prison (ABANDONED)

Enco the Electrode “Puppet” Encounter
=Fragment 1=

(65) Kothmart (ABANDONED)

Vraid the Kabutops “Puppet” Encounter
=Fragment 2=

(68) Petro Now Gasoline and Convenience Store (ABANDONED)

Rabin the Dustox “Puppet” Encounter
=Fragment 3=

(72) Valsa Hotel Ruins (ABANDONED)

Rugo the Panpour “Puppet” Encounter
=Fragment 4=

(76a) The OMEN Crater – OMEN Crater Northwest, Ruined Residential District (ABANDONED)

Kray the Nidorino “Puppet” Encounter
=Fragment 5=

(81) Ruined Vancedyke Warehouses (ABANDONED)

Enra the Hariyama “Puppet” Encounter
=Fragment 6=

(58b) East Jadewater Apartment Building (ABANDONED)

Teeshay the Hatenna “Puppet” Encounter
=Fragment 7=

(53) East Exacta River Bridge (ABANDONED)

Ercho the Thwackey “Puppet” Encounter
=Fragment 8=

(66) Greenyard Apartment Ruins (ABANDONED)

Mappa the Dreepy “Puppet” Encounter
=Fragment 9=

(88) The Headmaster Houses (ABANDONED)

#{Undeath Vault of Reanimation: Missing Undeath Keystone} Infernal Deranged Essence (4 Sanity Damage, 2 Purity Damage)

DEMONIC PUPPET WORKSHOP – Huskpuppet’s Phylactery

DIARY ENTRIES

(22) Kenja Apartment Building

Graphic: =Huskpuppet Diary Entry 1=

(19) The Shaymin Café (ABANDONED)

Graphic: =Huskpuppet Diary Entry 2=

(33) Blue Brook Residential Buildings (ABANDONED)

Graphic: =Huskpuppet Diary Entry 3=

Puzzles:


=Fragment 1=


=Fragment 2=


=Fragment 3=


=Fragment 4=


=Fragment 5=


=Fragment 6=


=Fragment 7=


=Fragment 8=


=Fragment 9=


[Undeath Keystone] (Completed)

Graphics:


=Huskpuppet Diary Entry 1=


=Huskpuppet Diary Entry 2=


=Huskpuppet Diary Entry 3=

[C0L0R3D]

Well, that tidied up all our loose ends!
Labyrinth was taking advantage of Taelia's grief and dementia....
Obscene caused Alishia to believe that they were a fan...
Astralnox was baiting out Daxu with hope and finding his friends....
Twistagen warped Jagin's expectations to make better buildings...
Huskpuppet confused Fiveria into believing she could make dolls again...
and Exclude basically became Shas' nightmarish friend.

Everyone besides from Shas got their hopes twisted into something they truly LOATHED....
But seriously, great job.

Edit: I made pictures of what the Stalker spirits would look like with a physical form bc i was bored, they're a bit small but I think you can just open the image in another tab and zoom in that way

Spoiler:

1614974652421.jpg

[Neo Emolga]

It was a close call, but the verdict is “Fast forward to the ending” (given how AD meant to go for this option rather option #1). Personally, I think even with the stripped-down version, you guys would likely pulverize the Stalkers with the Shadowmarch gear, which I was okay with, but there wouldn’t be any threat of losing doing this.

I’ll try to get to writing up the ending this week, but first some background on it so when you read it, it makes sense.

• The situation was meant to become increasingly morbid with every Stalker you defeated. You wouldn’t have seen too much with the first three Stalkers eliminated, but once #3 was gone, the Abyss would start sending in soldiers and assassins to make the situation more difficult and you would have noticed darker days and bizarre macabre weather patterns. So in addition to fighting OMEN infected, you would have been rolling random chances of facing these guys, too. And then when there was only one Stalker remaining, the Abyss would send in their absolute nastiest elite officers. On top of all this, things around Exacta City would have become really plunged into darkness. This would all be leading up to the final battle between Utopia and the realm of the living versus the Abyss, which you'll read about in the ending.
• The ending will play out as if you completed all the steps of the Sin Purge Ritual. This was also meant to include the rescue of Hoopa and Blazewing the Latias (who would have helped with some of the Sin Purge Ritual steps). Blazewing was in fact the Utopia Angel that would have been purifying stuff and breaking Phylacteries.
• This will also be the ultimate end of the Stalkers RPG. In terms of the five-Season ongoing storyline, yes, since all five Seasons are loosely connected (having some exposure to the other Seasons will make you appreciate the ending a bit more, but it’s not necessary). You’ll see hints to old familiar friends and followers from the previous Seasons (and in fact there are connected references to those other worlds in the ending). Once you read the ending, you’ll know why Season 6 won’t be a thing.

Though no promises, I may run something similar to Stalkers in the distant future that uses major components of the game’s play system and will likely have a very similar look and feel, but will have some distinct differences. However, a large amount of the addon extra stuff that was weighing me down too much to resolve will definitely be stripped, so combat would go (or would be very simplified into single dice-roll outcomes), most if not all of the inventory stuff would go including money and stores, and so would the stuff that doesn’t really get used often enough to hassle with it. They were nice attempts and were fun to try, but they’re just unwieldly, unfortunately. What the theme of it would be, not sure yet, but the fantasy theme kind of resonates with me.

In closing, I definitely want to thank everyone who participated in this, even if you were only active for one cycle or so. I apologize I just couldn’t keep up with it and it’s always a bummer to me when sometimes doesn’t get completed the way I wanted it to, but eh, it happens. Overall, I hope you had fun with it, there will definitely be other events at PXR and I hope you join in on them.

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