Stalkers RPG: Dustwoken - Main Action and Team Status [SEASON 1]

**DayBreak** · 06-15-2022, 07:03 PM

009-determined.jpg
" I'm going to go back to the Silent Song ship and finally free Ralon. I'll be the first to admit that I've been careless lately on account of my emotions ruling my decisions, so this time I'm going to make damn well sure I'm not followed on my way there. "
000-normal.jpg
" Sides, he's been trapped in that hellish in-between state for long enough, and the bits of info he was able to give me did prove valuable, so saving him and finally bringing him home is the least we can do! All I can hope is that next time he's able to live a fuller life without all of this Demoni crap. Hopefully one of these days we can free the others that Velli has been experimenting on, but for now, we'll have to do what we can. "
004-confused.png
" Though I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that Velli is at the very least in league with them, so we may have to do something about her relatively soon anyway. "

**Neo Emolga** · 06-17-2022, 12:45 AM

Originally Posted by Scytherwolf

I think I'll search (23) Seabourne Hospital. Seems like it's pretty sketchy?

When the morning arrives, you decide to grab a fresh muffin breakfast that Benni has prepared for you all and then decide to head out to investigate Seabourne Hospital. You’ve heard some not-so-nice things about it, and you’re wondering if it’s possible some of the Stalkers saw and opportunity here.

After walking a few miles through dry and dusty weather, you soon arrive at the hospital. And upon a first glance, it doesn’t seem like the most welcoming place. It’s a rather large and almost imposing gray and brown stone building and even the main building doesn’t feel trustworthy.

You shudder to think how many Pokémon had this rather bleak and depressing building as the last thing they saw of the outside world before they were admitted into this hospital only to never come out alive…

You decide with the hospital being as large as it is, you’re only going to have time to investigate the exterior grounds. The massive inside will need to wait for another time or will have to be handled by someone else.

As you make your way around the exterior, while the building itself is in good shape and isn’t at all something that direly needs renovation, it still doesn’t feel welcoming. Attempts must have been made some time ago to include fountains and flowers for decoration, but they’ve been neglected for quite some time and instead, the exterior atmosphere seems somber, quiet, and very neglected as if that’s how they treat their patients, too. The whole impression you get from it all seems to feel as though being admitted here means your chances of dying are much greater than recovering.

You then arrive at what used to be one of those motivational murals. You then identify that it was the mural that Altrea had mentioned to Lewisia, and you see the words “only the mantra of macabre words is understood here.”

But something seems horribly wrong…

You recalled that from Lewisia’s report, Altrea mentioned it depicted a family of Greedent and Skwovet, and that the Greedent’s eyes were “blotted out” and that the entire faces of the Skwovet were fully “blotched out.” While the lettering is the same…

…you look up to see the Pokémon depicted on the mural are different…

Instead, you see a father Blaziken and a mother Combusken with their eyes blackened out and a young Torchic with his face blotched out. It looked like what was there originally was a happy moment with this family enjoying a beautiful day outside, but now it’s corrupted. For a moment, you’re wondering if what Altrea found was another mural besides this one, but you’ve investigated the entire exterior and this seems to be the only one…

{The Fallen Mantra Mural: Unspoken Macabre Words} has been noted in the Team Records.

…

…No…

…You know you’re right. You know this is the same mural.

It was changed.

It was changed because…

…

T̠ͪh̯ã̓ͣt̫̠ͫ̎̀ͅ'ș̈́ w̓̅̀h̬o͍ E̮̺ͅdif̰i̠̻͔͋̐̂c͎͎ͅe's͇ͤ nȇ̬w͚͓̥̅̃ͦe͓s̆t ͫvic͛̂̑t̺̬͗͛i̳͚ms̤͓̼ͣͩͦ a̗̭ͣ͒r̪̠ͫ͋ẽ͇!!̪̦ͅ!

For a brief moment, you swear you can hear the faint cry of a Torchic… and it even causes you to look around... only to find nothing...

…

You decide you really don’t want to be here anymore…

Not like this…

With a heavy heart, you go back to Benni’s farmstead and you try to flush out the thoughts and the sights of what you just saw here today.

Instead, it doesn’t work that well and they still linger hard in your memory…

Scy the Heracross (M: Bug / Fighting)

Health: 20/20 | Sanity: 15/20 | Purity: 20/20 | 8/10 Kurosuōbā | Dodge Rate: 30%
Perk: Repair
Reincarnation Forms: ~~Heracross~~, Scyther, Centiskorch, Snom, Volcarona
EQUIPMENT:

Defense Armor: <Empty>
Jewelry: +|J| Diamond Necklace+ (2S, 2P)

**Neo Emolga** · 06-17-2022, 01:32 AM

Originally Posted by C0L0R3D

So... Colored has informed me that she's willing to go and 'dance with the Demoni' before picking up those odd blood eyes. I suppose that mean's she only could have gone to one place.

I ain't gone yet! Mostly so I can clarify what I'm even doing with these things.

[Action Decided: Take the Eyes of Blood back to the Southshore Chapel and plonk 'em in that Latias! I'm ready to deal with one half of this corrupted Eon mess!]

After waking up and eating breakfast, you grab the two Eyes of Blood from the storage cabinet and make your way back to the Southshore Chapel. It’s a dry and dusty day and it almost seems surprising most of the rain from last night has already dried up. Still, as you make your way to the Southshore Chapel, you’re not quite sure what to expect, but you highly doubt anything blessed or holy is to come out of this.

As you can tell, both of the eyes are in fact still bleeding and yet it seems like the blood never runs out despite the fact there’s no way these eyes would have been able to store this much. Something dark and uncanny is definitely at work here.

You arrive before the once-beautiful stone statue of Latias, now with her eyes dug out while the statue itself seems infused with a deep evil. Meanwhile, blood also trickles from the eye sockets. Looking at both of the eyes that seem to almost follow you as if they had minds of their own, you take each of them and place them into the eye sockets of the Latias statue…

Colored has used both [Eye of Blood] on the Statue of the Blood Sister, Latias.

{Statue of the Blood Sister, Latias: ~~Missing Eye~~ AND ~~Missing Eye~~}

Both eyes seem to bleed out just a little bit more, and then they just stop. Suddenly, you hear a grotesque moan, and then the head of the statue falls off, as if someone had instantly decapitated it with a razor-sharp katana.

You quickly grab the statue’s severed head, trying to prevent it from crashing to the tiled ground and smashing into a million pieces. You catch it successfully in your small green hands, and you see the eyes of the severed head suddenly look back at you… throbbing…

#Deranged Vision of the Demoni – PSYCHIC (6 Sanity Damage, 6 Purity Damage)# Trap 40% Evasion Test: 25 out of 100: Success!

LOOK AWAY!!!

Instinctively, you put the head down and you shut your eyes and look away in the other direction, suddenly putting full faith and trust into that voice in your head.

The vision of hatred and death… it never comes to you. It instead fades to nothing with no victim to claim, and instead of plunging you into the abyss of a million horrors that this “dying” severed head would have thrown you into, it could not gaze into your soul and implant its malice and spiritual sickness. Instead, the head “died” with no one to claim as its victim as it descended into death.

The sudden spike of that hellish presence dies down like the sudden ceasing of movement of a flailing arm of a drowning Pokémon. You suddenly feel it’s safe to open your eyes, turn your snake-like body to carefully and cautiously look upon the head, and you find the dark and hellish danger has now passed, leaving only calm, eerie silence around you…

You pick up the severed head of the Latias stone statue, having a feeling you might need this for something else. Thankfully, it’s safe to handle now, and on top of that, the eyes are no longer bleeding all over the place. What was once beautiful and god-like was suddenly corrupted and evil, and what was once corrupted and evil is now dead, as if the only victory in this misery was nothing short of euthanasia.

[Severed Head of the Blood Sister, Latias] has been added to the Team Inventory.

Taking a deep breath and thanking your lucky stars you managed to react in time, you decide to head back to Benni’s farmstead to prepare for what must be done tonight. There’s still the head of Latios that needs to be dealt with, but for now, you’ve gotten the sister taken care of.

Just one last eon Pokémon to go…

Colored the Snivy (S: Grass)

Health: 16/16 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 24/24 | 6/10 Kurosuōbā | Dodge Rate: 40%
Perk: Diplomacy
Reincarnation Forms: Morelull, Palpitoad, Mega Audino, Pidgeot, Cinccino
EQUIPMENT:

Defense Armor: <Empty>
Jewelry: <Empty>

**Neo Emolga** · 06-17-2022, 06:35 PM

Originally Posted by Chakramaster

Well I can say for sure something about a power plant feels a bit familiar. So maybe I'll give this a quick search.

Search: (10) Seabourne Geothermal Power Plant

When the morning arrives, you wake up and head down to grab a fresh breakfast that Benni has prepared. After you finish, you head out and start to make your way toward the Seabourne Geothermal Power Plant, drifting through the air as you head southeast.

When you arrive, you first look around the exterior, which seems to be a large piece of property and it takes up a good few hours to check most of the nooks and crannies around the pipes and equipment, which all seem to be in good working shape. While you’ve noticed Seabourne has plenty of old buildings and quite a few of them are not in good condition at all, it definitely isn’t the case with the plant. You feel you’d be pretty hard-pressed to find any spec of rust anywhere on the metal pipes, machines, and equipment that still escape your knowledge of what they might be used for. It also seems to be quite clean and everything appears to be in good working order.

Around one of the maintenance cabinets used for storing tools and equipment, you find some kind of device that doesn’t look like it belongs with the others. When you look it over, it seems to be a key of sources, but it’s definitely not a traditional one and almost seems more like some ritualistic tool. But the shape and design of it definitely implies it’s a key of sorts.

[The Avain] has been added to the Team Inventory.

When you search the interior, you find plenty of machines, equipment, and controls that seem to be in good working order, but you’re not sure what each of them are used for. You do notice that it seems to be eerily quiet around here, and one of the few employees you see working here is Chenny the Zebstrika. From her composure, she seems relaxed and easy-going and doesn’t seem to show too much concern. Meanwhile, it seems like the rest of the plant can be self-sufficient when it comes to ongoing operations, though Chenny ensures everything stays that way. If something does go wrong, she’s around to assess the situation and troubleshoot whatever might need to be corrected.

Overall, the situation inside the plant seems to be under control and you don’t think the Stalkers have been in here at all. You don’t detect any dark presences or sensations of evil.

Once you’ve confirmed the coast is clear inside the plant, you get back out and make your preparations for tonight.

Chakra the Jirachi (S: Steel / Psychic)

Health: 14/16 | Sanity: 11/20 | Purity: 15/24 | 8/10 Kurosuōbā | Dodge Rate: 40%
Perk: Security
Reincarnation Forms: Pikachu, Pachirisu, Minccino, Victini, Mudkip
EQUIPMENT:

Defense Armor: +|A| Scale Armor+ (3H)
Jewelry: +|J| Blessed Armband+ (1S, 1P)

**Neo Emolga** · 06-17-2022, 11:16 PM

Originally Posted by sammy0295

Search (61) The Last House (ABANDONED)

You wake up with the morning sun, and shortly after you grab the berry muffin breakfast that Benni has prepared. You notice she’s been quiet lately, but given everything that’s been going on, you can seemingly understand why. It almost seems she knows that you’re making good progress toward learning more about the Stalkers, but she still seems wary, concerned that they might find out what’s really going on here. It seems the more you uncover, the more she’s worried about the possibility your efforts being traced back to here.

After you finish and head outside, you make your way east toward the last mysterious house at the very tail end of what is an old residential street that has almost completely faded with time and lack of use. You can foresee that in less than ten years, it may seem impossible to tell there was ever a road here to begin with.

Once you arrive at the Last House, you see the main structure isn’t in the best of shape and looks like it has faced years of dusty neglect and has taken a beating from the elements in terms of windstorms, heavy rain, and hot dry weather. Paint is peeling off of the wood, molding has begun to warp, splinter, and snap, and the windows have become too dusty and dirty to see through.

Something about the building has a peculiar way about insinuating it’s more than just a typical residential house, although from an initial glance, it can appear to be that way. When you get to the backyard of the house, you find a mysterious metallic hatch roughly a hundred feet away from the main structure. As you look it over from multiple angles, you guess that it seems to lead to some underground area, only it looks like it’s been locked for quite some time and quite a lot of dust and dirt has accumulated on it. You take a closer look at where the handle is and it looks like some kind of hexagon-shaped token or medallion is supposed to be fitted into here to disengage the lock mechanism. The indentation also has a very faint insignia of a lily flower. Considering this kind of lock, you don’t think it can be picked with a standard set of lockpicks.

{Black Sanctuary Hatch: Mark of the Lily} has been noted in the Team Records.

Since you can’t get any further with it, you decide to leave it alone for now. As you look back to the house, you get the impression there’s quite a few other secrets here…

You then climb in through a sightly open dirty window and take a look inside to see if you can find anything else. From an initial glance, you don’t see anything unusual, although all of the furniture is still here despite no one knowing who or where the original owner is. A lot of it is dusty and looks like it hasn’t seen any use for a while now, but you get the idea this was a place where a large group of Pokémon once resided. You notice the dining room has quite a few chairs around it of various sizes for varying Pokémon. You estimate at least ten Pokémon were residing here at one point, but it seemed like it was only for a temporary basis. You find makeshift beds, bedrolls, and storage areas that almost remind you of how temporary an encampment would be.

From an initial glance, the living room, dining room, kitchen, and the bedrooms don’t seem that ordinary, but you see that everything seems to imply this house functioned more as an outpost of an organization as opposed to being a family home, even though it seems to be a disguise. You can tell from the dust and the lack of food in the cupboards that it’s been a while since anyone has been here, but they left intentionally without telling anyone. But you still get the impression that they intended to come back eventually, whoever it was. You’re not sure if they ever will, but for now, you’re here.

You decide to probe deeper when you get to the small and dusty home office, and it seems to pay off. When you open the locked drawer of the old desk that’s there and really delve deeply into the papers and notebooks you find, you find ledgers and papers of a dark and mysterious origin. You flip through them and what you find isn’t what you quite expected. The whole time, this small and easy to overlook home office is actually functioning as a reference library and archive, although it’s not easy to discern it from an initial glance.

Many of the records mention Black Moon, a syndicate of assassins and demon hunters. As you read further into the details, you soon understand that this house was used as an outpost for this Black Moon syndicate and they knew they would be here for only a temporary amount of time. But their origin proves to be interesting.

They too, were Savants just like yourself and the others staying at Benni’s farmstead. But instead of staying with Benni, they were staying here.

And their story is similar to yours, but different in others. Instead of being turned into Pokémon and brought to Seabourne by Xerneas like you and the others were, they were brought here by Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf. And unlike your team of Savants, these Black Moon Savants had their memories wiped and lost their desire to return to a home they didn’t even remember. Instead they persisted in living here instead, deciding to continue the work of hunting the Demoni even after their initial mission was completed. It seems as though given what Xerneas did as an alternative, you kept your memories to avoid losing sight of who you truly are in heart and mind. Thanks to that, you haven’t lost your understanding that there will come a time you will need to return home and you haven’t forgotten what your true home is. But for these Black Moon Savants, you can’t help but feel sympathy for them. They too, had families, lives they left behind, and friends that they never did see again and never remembered. All the while, those that they knew never found out what happened to the person that suddenly went missing one day and never came home. Some of them may even be still out there searching for their lost loved ones…

You’re thankful Xerneas didn’t make the same mistake Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf did…

You learn that these Black Moon Savants used special weapons to hunt down and destroy the Demoni. Because the Demoni are so powerful, using one of these weapons on them exhausts the power of these Black Moon armaments. But the important part you discover is that they only harm the Demoni, not the victim they have assimilated. They were specially designed and forged for this very reason and purpose.

It makes you wonder about that vault you found outside. If it’s a kind of armory for Black Moon weapons, you find they might prove to be quite valuable and might help you destroy the Stalkers that have come to this town. In the meantime, the ledgers account for three weapons that were disassembled and had their components stored in places of safety. You read the details on three of them: Ombre, a jagged dagger that allows the assassin to strike as though they are like an invisible ghost. Obscurité, a dark bow that summons and fires its own silent and very deadly arrows from the darkness. And lastly, Létal, a deadly chakram weapon that has the power to sever and slice through a Demoni’s dark spirit. All the other Black Moon weapons were used and these remainders were stored away in case the Demoni ever resurfaced…

And yet just such a thing has now happened…

You search through the remaining journals for more information regarding where these components might be in Seabourne, but you only find vague references and not exact locations. It’s enough to give you assurance they’re somewhere here in this town, but the exact locations were not documented. You get the feeling this might have been for secrecy and security purposes, but now, at a time you feel you and the other Savants could make use of them, you’re going to need to hunt down these components the hard way. No one from the original Black Moon Savant group is around to help you uncover this information.

Lastly, one of the combat manuals on how to use these assassin weapons gives you some insight as to how these weapons function and what they’re capable of. As you flip through the pages with your hooves, you learn a few valuable details.

To be most effective, the assassin needs to be a Pokémon that is strong against the Pokémon that the Demoni has taken over. As a grass type Pokémon, you find you would be able to quickly strike down a water, ground, or rock type Pokémon if they happen to be a Stalker.
Using a Black Moon assassination weapon on a Pokémon that isn’t a Stalker will have no repercussion. These special assassination weapons were specifically designed to strike down and destroy the dark souls of the Demoni while leaving both the physical form and spirit of the victim intact and alive.
Black Moon weapons and their components can only be realized and understood by Savants. Normal Pokémon will never comprehend the mysterious and labyrinth-like nature of these special assassination weapons.

Lastly, you find the disassembly details of the three remaining Black Moon weapons. You learn that while unassembled, the Demoni and the normal Seabourne civilians cannot discern the true nature of these weapons, unlike if they were fully assembled.

Ombre – Was broken down to only a blade and a hilt. To be reassembled and powered once again, it would need both of these parts and an Aether Prism to recharge its dark energy.

Obscurité – Needs the bow base, the detached shadow essence to summon arrows from the darkness once again, and an Aether Prism of its own to recharge it and prime it for combat.

Létal – Needs the chakram base, as well as the runes to be placed upon it once again as they function as a kind of shadow inscription that gives the chakram its ability to slice dark souls into ribbons. Like the other two weapons, it too needs an Aether Prism to be recharged.

You soon understand from these journals and records that once you have one of these weapons fully assembled and ready, all you need to do is find out which of these Seabourne civilians is possessed by a Demoni and use the weapon to strike them down and destroy the Demoni’s dark soul forever, freeing the victim’s spirit and body from their clutches. Thankfully, by pure luck it seems the Demoni haven’t discovered the Black Moon Savants had a base of operations here and had remnant weapons disassembled and stowed away for protection, but you’re not sure how much longer that luck may hold out before something is discovered.

After gathering all of this information, you feel compelled and ready to continue the work that the Black Moon Savants started…

Sam the Deerling (S: Normal / Grass)

Health: 16/16 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 24/24 | 2/10 Kurosuōbā | Dodge Rate: 40%
Perk: Repair
Reincarnation Forms: Nidorino, Krabby, Blaziken, Ralts, Delcatty
EQUIPMENT:

Defense Armor: <Empty>
Jewelry: +|J| Ruby Pendant+ (2S, 1P)

**Neo Emolga** · 06-17-2022, 11:36 PM

Originally Posted by EmeraldSky

I will untrap the shadow eye.

Deciding to make these wicked relics and tools of the Stalkers safter to handle, you decide to work on the Eye of Shadow, knowing it has some sickly dark mechanism that is loaded into the eye but has not been triggered yet.

…You’re hoping to trigger that safely without having whatever black ooze that’s coming out of this eye become injected into someone’s body. One wrong touch is all it takes.

Carefully holding the eye in a towel, you head outside and place the towel down in the dirt ground. After unraveling the towel, you find the eye, and in a disturbing way, it quickly turns to you on its own, looking at you… staring at you at all times. But you remain unfazed by it and decide to work on safely removing the vile trap mechanism on this dark artifact.

You decide to grab a hoe that Benni uses for her garden out of the field storage shed she has near the house. When you arrive back at the eye, it moves on its own, always locked on your position and always looking at you regardless of where you stand. As a result, it’s impossible to strike it from the back, so you go for the front, carefully keeping the flat metallic plate in front of the eye’s iris at all times, knowing something malicious is intended to trigger from it.

Taking a deep breath, you thrust the hoe forward, striking the eye with one quick blow…

#Spirit Hemorrhage – DARK (4 Purity Damage)# Trap 80% Disarm Trap Test: 52 out of 100: Success!

The mechanism snaps and suddenly a gush of black, noxious fluid gushes from the eye as a spring-loaded injector blade thrusts forward. However, instead of burrowing into some unsuspecting victim’s flesh while injecting that vile black ooze into their spirit, it harmlessly strikes the flat metallic plate of the hoe and no one is harmed in the process.

The Spirit Hemorrhage trap on the [Eye of Shadow] has been disarmed.

You simply wipe the black ooze off of the hoe and store it back in the shed. With that done, you safely pick up the [Eye of Shadow] and return it to the storage shed, wrapped in the towel again to absorb the black ooze that still trickles out of it.

Maya the Pikachu (S: Electric)

Health: 16/16 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 19.5/24 | 5/10 Kurosuōbā | Dodge Rate: 40%
Perk: Security
Reincarnation Forms: Gardevoir, Alolan Ninetales, Meloetta, Baile forme Oricorio, Cinderace
EQUIPMENT:

Defense Armor: <Empty>
Jewelry: <Empty>

**Noblejanobii** · 06-19-2022, 03:02 PM

~~This is severally late because I only just saw you say I could still submit an action so feel free to ignore this haha~~

I'd like to untrap @[Bloody Thorn Wreath (Part 1 of 3)] Dark Lacerations – GRASS – (4 Health Damage, 4 Purity Damage)@

**Neo Emolga** · 06-21-2022, 01:36 AM

Originally Posted by DayBreak

009-determined.jpg
" I'm going to go back to the Silent Song ship and finally free Ralon. I'll be the first to admit that I've been careless lately on account of my emotions ruling my decisions, so this time I'm going to make damn well sure I'm not followed on my way there. "
000-normal.jpg
" Sides, he's been trapped in that hellish in-between state for long enough, and the bits of info he was able to give me did prove valuable, so saving him and finally bringing him home is the least we can do! All I can hope is that next time he's able to live a fuller life without all of this Demoni crap. Hopefully one of these days we can free the others that Velli has been experimenting on, but for now, we'll have to do what we can. "
004-confused.png
" Though I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that Velli is at the very least in league with them, so we may have to do something about her relatively soon anyway. "

After waking up and the morning sun comes in through the farmstead window, you decide today is the day that Ralon should finally be free. After having breakfast with the others, you take the encrypted stake from the storage cabinet, and you head south toward the Silent Song ship at the Pleasant Waters Harbor. You can’t even begin to comprehend the kind of pain and suffering that Ralon has been enduring, but you hope by tonight, it’s all over and he can finally be at peace.

During the morning walk, you feel the dry and dusty wind blow dirt and sandy grit around you. Thanks to the armor covering your body, it barely affects you. And then, after a long and lonely walk, when you finally do arrive, you quickly head toward the ship, still in the same place you left it last time. It feels as though each consecutive time you visit this place, it feels less threatening, as if it’s losing its grip on your fears.

You soon board the Silent Song, and head down below the deck toward where Ralon is. You’re not sure what his next life will be like, but you know it’ll be away from this dark, forgotten place. When you finally reach Ralon, it seems not much has changed since the last time you were here. He still hangs in a crucified position with his head down, still unable to see, still unable to die naturally. You’re not sure if Exonull had returned since the last time you visited, but when she does return, she’ll find Ralon is no longer under her control.

He'll finally be free, much to her distain as you imagine.

“…Ralon?” you ask the tortured Starly.

He suddenly jolts awake, but for him it’s still painful and he recoils a bit from the sudden, agonizing moment. And he still cannot see, but you can sense he has recognized your voice… and even though he hasn’t said so, you’ve given him hope just from your presence.

“…Thank you for coming back…” he says weakly. “Exonull came back last night. She seemed… agitated. I think… I think she knows about you and the others…”

The news of this makes your heart sink, but you have a strong feeling Velli has something to do with it.

“Ralon, it’s time,” you tell him. “I have the stake. It was hidden in Velli’s house. I think she may be an informant to the Stalkers.”

“She betrayed us…” Ralon whimpers, looking away. “Betrayed… everyone in Seabourne. Now look at what she’s done. She’ll do it again. I know it. And I’m just sorry I can’t help you… stop her…”

“You’ve already helped me quite a bit,” you assure him. “But like I said. I have the stake. You can be free from this place, from this body… if you’re ready. This might be painful.”

He goes silent, shivering a bit. You almost want to tell him about what comes after all this is done… Afterhaven, another life, but you know you can’t disclose these secrets. It has to be protected at all costs, even in dire circumstances like this.

“…I’m ready,” Ralon tells you, sounding anxious. “Please tell my family… I love them. Please tell them… goodbye…”

“I will…” you promise him.

A moment of dark silence fills the air. You decide to make this quick. No counting to three, or anything like that. No sense drawing this out any longer than it needs to be. You take a deep breath, grip your armored hand on the stake…

…and drive it through Ralon’s heart.

Lyric has used the [Encrypted Stake].

He suddenly shrieks… for never before has he known such pain…

{Crucified Starly Effigy: ~~Stake Sacrifice~~}

Sadly, what Velli and Exonull have done to Ralon made it so death does not come quickly and it definitely isn’t simple and clean. Black pus and ichor gushes from the stake and the whole time, Ralon’s body convulses, spasms, and he can’t even speak… only gurgle an ungodly sound of pure, raw suffering.

What have I done…?

But you force yourself to say there was no other way. You know… this was meant for Ralon’s family to see… and to suffer with. As Ralon’s body loses control of himself, Velli and Exonull wanted this horrendous and grotesque display to burn forever in horror in the minds of Ralon’s family. And you know… you know it would have done endless traumatizing damage to them forever more and they would never leave this place the same. You denied Velli and Exonull that sadistic pleasure.

Ralon mutters words that you can’t understand. His voice is muffled by black pus oozing out of his mouth while his muscles give up the fight against the pain and become stiff and locked in rigor mortis… despite still being “alive” unnaturally.

“Lo…ve…” Ralon’s final dying breath mutters in a painful whimper. “…Fam…ily… …pe…ace… … ha-ha…ppi…ness… …”

…

He tried to think of the happiest thoughts he could before he passed. The things he loved, the things he knew were worth fighting for. And then there is silence…

…

…Ralon’s body no longer moves…

…

A sudden vision comes upon you, suddenly forcing you to sleep. You try to fight it, but it proves to be too strong, and for a brief moment, you see Ralon’s ravaged body. His ravaged, eyeless body, the horror his family was meant to suffer with… but you selflessly take it in their place.

…

Nothing…

…

Except you know that’s a lie…

You wake up and nothing moves, as if the air itself has been petrified into stone. The only thing that breaks the stillness is the black pus that continues to ooze from Ralon’s mouth to drip upon the floor. But then… something else comes out of his beak. It plummets to the wooden floor, and you take a closer look, sensing a Stalker’s presence… Exonull’s presence… coming from this strange, hook-shaped object…

You reach down to pick it up to take a closer look and…

#Piercing Bite – ROCK (3 Health Damage, 3 Purity Damage)# Trap 30% Evasion Test: 41 out of 100: Failed!

Lyric has suffered 1 Health Damage and 1 Purity Damage.

It suddenly pierces through your skin and only mildly hurts at first, before suddenly escalating…

…and you cannot hold back a s͈̫͎͈͙̯̰̜ͦ̋̾ͪ̇̉̑̔c̫̗͎̗̗͚͍̖͕̆͑̋ͣ̔͛ͩ̓̚rͣ̑͛͂ͯeaͬ͐ͤ̍̆ͅ ̞̤͇ͅmͮ̏̊̋͗̒.

Lyric has suffered 2 Health Damage and 2 Purity Damage.

You sudde̟̫̟͈̣͇̱̼̪̥͖̭̻nly moan and vo̲̯̪̯̘͈̙͎̘͕̖̣̭͕̖mit before your eye̟̫̟͈̣͇̱̼̪̥͖̭̻s ro̲̯̪̯̘͈̙͎̘͕̖̣̭͕̖ll back and̜̬͙̟͙̘̭ ̣͚̯̲̙̰ỵ̠̘o͙͕͇͍̺͕uͯ s͙͔̮̫̦͈͌̽́̑̑̎t̘͇ͣ̚a̝̺̹̦͖r̥̠̻̫̱͙̪̐͂̂͂ͯ̇̚e̒̅̃ͥ̎̽ͩb̽e ̣ͦw̖̪͍a̮̯͚̫̭̦͐ͪ̍͐̍̚r̦͎͕̳̥̗̄̆̎̇ͯ̓eo̱͉̫͕͎̺͆̏̂̃ͬ͒b͗͂̊ ͫ̅͐l͕̬̣̜̼̯̘̎̔̐̏̏̎͊i̯̫̫̘̲͒̔ͮ̿̆v̑̋̎̎ͮǐ̝̱͕̐͊oͦ̆ͯ̎̓̍͗ ̪̣̰͓̺̯̲ni̟̺̩͈͔ͅsa̮̥̠͂͆͛t͚̠h̪͎͙̗͉̙ͯ̊͋̓ͩ͐a̬͍nd.

Y͓̜ͥ̄ó̋̑u̥̥͗̌ c̰͖͇̾̄̈ry,̀ ̯̬̥j̱͐ṳ̣st̹ ̔w̦ͨͧͅa̱͂n̤͒tĭͪn͗̅̂g̩̼͚ ỉ̉t ̙͒t͚̣o̱̬͊͛ ̠͖͓̂́͗st̉op̖̣̣ͥ̓ͪ.

When you finally break through the pain, you realize… this horrendous thing was forced into Ralon’s body and he’s been suffering with it the whole time. The horror you just experienced was only a mere sample in comparison to what Ralon had to endure.

You wrap the fang in a rag, twitching and heaving a bit. It feels like this is never going to get easier…

@[Fang of the Traumatized] Piercing Bite – ROCK (3 Health Damage, 3 Purity Damage) was added to the Team Inventory.

You then carefully remove Ralon’s body from his crucifixion mount and wrap the poor Starly’s body with an old brown blanket. Up close, you can see his physical condition was even worse than you originally thought, but you’re just hoping right now he’s safely in Afterhaven, free from his unholy and unnatural spiritual bondage here and now deciding how he wants his next life… a happier life… to be like.

But as for you, you leave, taking Ralon’s body with you… taking him home to his family so they can give him a proper funeral and burial away from the dark, lonely, forgotten place of suffering. The sights… the visions… and the nightmare you saw… Ralon’s family never has to see that. You never need to tell them what you saw, and instead they can remember the happier moments… holidays… birthdays… family vacations…

…when times were better. When happy memories were made.

It’s still early in the morning when you arrive at the Overlook Apartments, just as Verio is leaving for work. As the Toucannon closes the wooden door behind him, he thinks today is going to be like any other day, but then he turns around and sees you standing just outside his apartment door, holding the brown blanket, wrapped in a bundle.

For a moment, he stops. Time stops. It’s time that will never come back… and the look on his face tells you… he knows. You don’t need to hide anything… but you never intended to.

…

“He wanted… to say he loves you… and goodbye…” you tell him softly, feeling a hard lump in your throat. “Love… family… peace… happiness… those were his last words…”

…

They become words you both will always remember. They become words you both will never forget…

…

Lyric Winterheart the Nidorina (M: Poison)

Health: 17/20 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 11/20 | Dodge Rate: 30%
Perk: Diplomacy
Reincarnation Forms: Brionne, Mega Ampharos, Hisuian Goodra, Latios, Amaura
EQUIPMENT:

Defense Armor: <Empty>
Jewelry: <Empty>

**Neo Emolga** · 06-21-2022, 01:58 AM

Originally Posted by Noblejanobii

~~This is severally late because I only just saw you say I could still submit an action so feel free to ignore this haha~~

I'd like to untrap @[Bloody Thorn Wreath (Part 1 of 3)] Dark Lacerations – GRASS – (4 Health Damage, 4 Purity Damage)@

Though you’re not quite sure which Stalker conjured up this grizzly wreath of torment and pain, you decide to trim it down and make this piece of the thorn wreath much safer to handle. Though it looks like there’s two other parts of this thing that haven’t been accounted for, you feel you can at least get started on this one.

Carefully, you unwrap the wreath piece and you still it’s quite thorny and said thorns are also coated with blood, which you easily sense are tainted as well. Getting pricked by one of these thorns would not only pinch and hurt, but it would make your soul wretch in agony as well. And you decide to put an end to that.

@Dark Lacerations – GRASS (4 Health Damage, 4 Purity Damage)@ Trap 80% Disarm Trap Test: 18 out of 100: Success!

You decide the best and only real way to do this is to take a pair of clippers and remove the thorn-like ends that are covered in tainted blood. You carefully use your pink paws to grasp the clippers and snip each thorn end off with the patience, precision, and care of a master surgeon. After about an hour of meticulous snipping, you check over the wreath part one last time to ensure no thorns remain. While it still bears the demonic taint of the Stalkers, you’ve made it quite safe to handle, as if it were nothing more dangerous than a simple holiday Christmas wreath.

As for all the clipped ends, you sweep them into a metal pan and toss them into the fireplace, allowing the flames to consume and purge the world of these hideous and macabre thorns.

The Dark Lacerations trap on the [Bloody Thorn Wreath (Part 1 of 3)] has been disarmed.

You’re convinced there’s still two more wreath parts out there, but you’re confident you’ll be ready for them when they show up and that they’d do well not to underestimate a confident, crafty, and determined Shaymin like yourself.

Lewisia the Shaymin (S: Grass)

Health: 16/16 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 24/24 | Dodge Rate: 40%
Perk: Security
Reincarnation Forms: Gallade, Arctozolt, Galarian Rapidash, Mawile, Hisuian Typhlosion
EQUIPMENT: