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

[Neo Emolga]

(Lyric is going to interview Velay the Buizel with Diplomacy, specifically regarding his collection of Artifacts, and even more specifically, the Medallion Llanas told them about)

Lyric had confirmed their gut feeling regarding Korak, and now they knew full well that the Nidoking was not to be trusted. Now it was time to follow up on the lead Llanas had given them. They were quite interested in this Velay character she'd mentioned, as well as the medallion. First off was getting info on the guy himself. They quickly ate their meal and helped Benni out with some minor chores. As they were heading out, they looked to the other Savants and tapped their necklace.

"Guess my gut was right after all, loathed as I was to admit it. Korak's true face is Edifice. So now we know one of the Stalkers' identities. I'll leave the necklace in storage tonight. I've got someone to talk to first."

Guessing Velay would be on his ship at this hour, the Water-type set off towards the Flying Ace to talk with him. Internally, they hoped he'd be willing to show off some of the stuff he's found, and maybe Lyric would be able to make sense of some of it.

"Morning," Lyric called out to the Buizel, giving a wave. "Name's Winterheart! I heard you're a salvager, and I was wondering if you've picked up any trinkets that're... particularly interesting."

Lyric knew all too well the desire for adventure, somewhat sure they'd at least attempted it before promptly being flat on their face (figuratively and literally). While they did feel a bit guilty about not being able to help support him, they'd hopefully at least get some insight on that broken medallion the Primarina had mentioned.

This morning, you grab some fresh fruit that Benni has provided everyone for breakfast. Once you finish and you help Benni with the cleaning and tiding up, you decide to take off the Dreamwatch Necklace and leave it back into storage. With all of that taken care of, you decide to pay Velay the Buizel a visit to see what he knows.

As expected, you find Velay reorganizing some of the supplies and storage crates on his ship, the Flying Ace. It still looks like he’s got a lot of work to do, but he’s more than happy to take a break for a chat and to catch his breath. Already, it seems like the water otter has been up early to get some of this much needed work done.

“Morning,” you call out to him after waving. “Name’s Winterheart! I heard you're a salvager, and I was wondering if you've picked up any trinkets that're... particularly interesting.”

He turns around to look at you, and does a double take when he first sets eyes on you.

“Whoa!” he exclaims, taking a few steps back in shock. “You’re… glowing! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Brionne that glows before! Is that some kind of curse or magic spell!?”

…

You almost forgot about that, but you decide to brush it off with a smile, although you imagine it would be hard to explain the whole story about that.

“I mean… ah, my bad, I hope that didn’t come as rude,” Velay tells you, feeling a bit bashful and ashamed. “I just remembered there was an Ampharos named Julby that glowed in a slightly different way, but it turned out she was really sick with a medical condition that was causing unintentional electric discharge. Hopefully it’s nothing like that and you’re feeling ok! I won’t ask, though!”

He takes a step back, trying to recompose himself and scratches his head bashfully with his paw, looking a bit embarrassed. He then takes a deep breath and tries to start over, remembering your original request.

“Ok, starting over, it’s nice to meet you, Winterheart!” he tells you with a smile. “My name’s Velay and you’re right, I’m a scavenger, always looking for adventures and forgotten treasures! I’m hoping one of my finds someday can make me rich, but I’m more in it for the mystery and excitement! It’s definitely my passion to explore forgotten shipwrecks to find lost artifacts and forgotten bounties! Money is nice but the adventures are the best!”

…

And then he goes a bit quiet…

“Although…” he winces, looking a bit embarrassed again, “I haven’t found that treasure trove yet and I’m a bit broke. Ah… yeah, you see, this ship is my home, too, and I don’t even have enough to pay for a rent advance. At least when you live on a ship like I do, you don’t have to pay that kind of thing.”

“I’ve also been stuck here because of the Stalkers,” he sighs. “Malco ordered everyone to remain docked, including me. I was only trying to unload some of my artifacts and sell them to the Baywill Museum and Gallery, only they didn’t quite fetch the price I was hoping for. And I was hoping to be on my way soon after that. But now I’m not allowed to go and I recently heard Malco was killed, so I’m getting a bit worried here.”

You then remind him to ask if he’s found anything interesting, and he begins to think over his remaining inventory and finds. You then mention the conversation you had with Llanas and you let him know you’re a friend of hers.

#50 Velay the Buizel has become Compliant.

“Of course!” he smiles. “Any friend of Llanas is a friend of mine. We just met a few weeks ago, but she’s been really nice and fun to talk to as we’ve been passing the time.”

“There were a few things that I didn’t sell to Baywill because I’m convinced I can get a higher price for them elsewhere! Hey, I’m sure of it! I found a few pearl necklaces that I’m trying to repair and make presentable again up as well as cleaning up some old coins that I found. Hey, in this profession, you need to be pretty good at cleaning and restoration, and that’s quite a bit of work, but it’s fun!”

“And there’s a piece of this strange, broken medallion I found before, but I’ve been so busy that I forgot where I put it on this ship…” Velay replies, looking around and shrugging. “You know, I’ve tried like crazy to find the other pieces of it to see if I can put it back together, but I haven’t had much luck. It was a dull silver color and had this strange black X marking on it. Or maybe it’s a cross? I don’t know, but even if I found it, I can’t sell it to Baywill anyway because they don’t buy any broken or dirty things and I’ve already got my work cut out for me, so I might just need to scrap the idea of trying to find the other pieces to put it back together and restore it to turn a profit.”

You decide to inquire further about it, letting Velay know you’re trying to find something that might match that description.

“Hmm, I know it’s around here somewhere…” he looks around, trying to recall where he last saw it. “I mean if it’s something you really want, I’m totally cool with you having it since I just don’t have the time to work on it and I’ve kind of given up on trying to find the rest of it. I’ve got so much stuff that needs reorganizing…”

He sighs, feeling a bit bad that he can’t hand it over because he can’t quite find it, but it seems he’s convinced it’s still somewhere on the ship. He can’t sense the resonance of it like you can, so a search for him might take days while for you, it might only take a few hours.

“Say… could I ask a favor?” Velay asks you, looking a bit bashful like he’s been hiding something that’s been bugging him. “I know this might sound wrong, but I’ve had to resort to searching some of the abandoned places around town to see if there’s any lost treasures or things like that. I feel bad, but I’m really low on cash right now and I had to sell some of my furniture just to buy food, so any kind of silver or gold trinket that might have been left behind would be really nice.”

“Well… eh… I decided to check out the Colbyi Estate,” Velay confesses, flushing with embarrassment. “It’s a short walk from the harbor and you can even see it from the back of the ship. Well… eh heh, I thought it was an abandoned, creepy old mansion and I wanted to check it out in case there were some long-lost forgotten jewels or things like that in there. I did some searching around and I didn’t realize it was actually inhabited and Colbyi was only just upstairs, sleeping. I must have woken him up and I heard him come storming down and heard him shouting, so I fled!”

“Okay, I know, I shouldn’t have done that,” Velay winces. “I usually only check out abandoned shipwrecks and abandoned caves and coves, so I’m not used to this kind of thing. Still, there was something in his fancy den that seemed really weird. It was a really nice, white chest with the depiction of a smiling and cheerful Audino painted on it. I tried to take a peek inside the chest, but I couldn’t get it open, and when I looked at the lock, I saw there was missing rectangular metal slot that looked like it was for some kind of key or something. Now, in my time dealing with locked containers and doors, I’ve seen all kinds of weird locks that do all kinds of gimmicks to prevent theft, so this was normal. But there was something odd going on with this lock. There was this gross, black oily stuff all over it, and with this oil, I saw the words ‘sin, sins of all’ and it was the creepiest thing ever. And I got to thinking either Colbyi did that himself and he’s really off the deep end and could be a Stalker, or he did not and someone else did that inside his house. Either way, both of those possibilities really creep me out and I’ll admit I’ve lost sleep just thinking about it but I can’t tell any of the police investigators that I was trespassing like that only Colbyi’s property.”

“Maybe… check it out if you can?” Velay asks sheepishly. “I know it’s trespassing, but I’m thinking something weird is going on with that chest and maybe there’s something you might be able to find that sheds some light on this whole Stalker situation. Like I said, I’m not the best at sneaking around and I had to dash out of there before I could look into it further. If Colbyi really is a Stalker, we gotta know so the police can do something. Hopefully you can take a better look while that old guy is snoozing. It might be for his own good if he’s innocent but someone else has been snooping around his house and messing with his stuff.”

“Well, that’s all for now,” Velay shrugs with a smile. “Thanks for dropping by to visit, it was a pleasure to meet you, Winterheart! Feel free to stop by anytime and I’d gladly invite you for some coffee… if I can get the machine working again that is. Or if I can get a little dough to restock my tea supply. But hey, chats without drinks are okay, too!”

You smile as you tell him goodbye and give him your best wishes as you head back to the farmstead, though what he mentioned about the Colbyi Estate and what Colbyi might be hiding does have you concerned…

Lyric Winterheart the Tatsujin Brionne (M: Kūsho)

Health: 20/20 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 20/20 | 10/10 Kurosuōbā | Dodge Rate: 30%
Perk: Diplomacy
Reincarnation Forms: Brionne, Mega Ampharos, Hisuian Goodra, Latios, Amaura
EQUIPMENT:

• Defense Armor: <Empty>
• Jewelry: <Empty>

[Neo Emolga]

I'm gonna buy a little more time here. Think there's a little more to uncover before we get to cracking and finishing things around here.
We just have to hurry before too many more innocent lives are taken! (38) The Righteous Rider

After rising up with the dawn, you help yourself to the breakfast that Benni has provided you and then head outside, intent on investigating the Righteous Rider ship to see if perhaps the Stalkers were there at one point and planned to make it a part of their sinister plots.

Once outside, you feel the air and atmosphere isn’t quite as bad as it has been in previous days, but you’re not sure how much longer that’s going to go on for. The Stalkers continuously creep toward their dark goals and you feel in due time, the closer they get, the more morose things may become. What you see now could be a trace of hope, or it could be leading into a false sense of security.

After levitating your way toward the ship, you stand before it and see the large metallic commercial fishing vessel has been in operation for about ten years and only shows minor amounts of wear and tear. As with the other ships that have been ordered to remain near Seabourne Town, the Righteous Rider has been docked here ever since the Stalker crisis had started, keeping all possible suspects grounded to make sure potential Stalkers don’t attempt to escape and get away with murder.

However, you know the truth… they’re here until either they succeed or they fail and wouldn’t attempt to escape regardless, at least not to the point where they would abandon their mission. And these Demoni are so hellbent on accomplishing their goals that they would sooner sacrifice themselves to do so if it meant buying time for the others to complete their mission. In a way, you’ve realized the Savants have had to do exactly the same, remaining in Seabourne Town and pressing forward regardless of what gets thrown at you and the others… never backing down.

Thanks to your levitation power, you’re able to easily survey the exterior of the vessel and not have to be concerned about having to take a swim to do so. You do a full inspection of the entire perimeter, but you don’t see anything that seems unusual or gives off a trace of Stalker presence. The hull of the ship is entirely intact and despite a few scratches and dents here and there, you figure this ship will still be in operation for quite a while. Other elements of the ship, including the bridge, cranes, masts, nets and other supplies still appear to be in good working condition and show no sign of having been manipulated by the Stalkers. You then decide to sneak aboard and see what might be on the ship itself.

While Gresdo the Toxicroak has a small crew consisting of Min the Golurk and Jobo the Conkeldurr, you have the feeling they don’t really think for themselves all too much. From your external observations, Min is eerily complacent and obedient to all of Gresdo’s commands and orders with no hesitation or objection at all while Jobo himself seems somewhat dim-witted and can’t really think beyond simply lifting heavy crates and taking on tasks that require a lot of strength but definitely don’t require intelligence.

Your immediate thought is the crew must be hurting financially due to being unable to head out to perform their early morning catches and bring back the hauls to the market. Instead, you’ve noticed that Gresdo has the crew performing labor-intensive tasks on land, including hauling of heavy construction equipment, shipping crates, and waste disposal at the Anchorpoint Shipping Company Headquarters as a supplemental source of income. Meanwhile, they’ve been using the ship itself as a storage facility beyond using it as lodging for themselves.

Some of these wooden crates and metallic containers seem sketchy and you have a feeling Gresdo and his crew aren’t aware about the suspicious cargo they’ve been handling. In some of these containers that you gently investigate, you find money printing plates, most likely used for printing counterfeit money. Others include drugs, illegal weapons, and even some explosives that appear to be military-grade. In another crate, you find what looks to be a set of combat armor, which appears to look like it’s intended for some kind of insurgent warlord.

You decide to take the armor, feeling it would benefit the Savant cause way more than whatever warlord this might be going toward. You’re quite sure by the time they realize the armor is missing, Gresdo and his crew will be long gone… hopefully after everything is resolved with the Stalkers…

+|A| Combat Armor+ (3H) has been added to the Team Inventory (Equipment)

You almost wish all of this nefarious cargo could be dealt with and investigated further to determine the source, but for now, it’s more important to focus on the Stalkers, which is keeping the entire world at stake. After you finish your search upon this ship, you come to realize the Stalkers haven’t been here yet, but at least you’ve made sure…

As the sun begins to set, you decide to head back to Benni’s to make it back in time for dinner and prepare for tonight. The clouds are starting to gather overhead and you’re beginning to suspect there might be rain.

Perhaps this really was the calm before the storm…

Chakra the Tatsujin Jirachi (S: Kūsho)

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

• Defense Armor: +|A| Guardian Armor+ (4H, 2P)
• Jewelry: +|J| Sapphire Amulet+ (1S, 2P)