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

[Lychee]

((Am I just routinely too late to submit an action?? My last action got ignored ;_;
I guess maybe I actually am for this one, the countdown says 0. Blehhhh. What do I do now? ))

Alright! Its possible that I had a busy night, and its possible that I did nothing at all, but either way, I'm off to do another interview today!

ChiChi is aiming to talk to Kulsso the church leader, using diplomacy, of course. But.... I do want to get that eye off him. And any information he has gathered about it-- I know he's been at the library! Its a public place, I haven't been spying or anything!

[Neo Emolga]

And I did it again. Sorry Lychee!

Here’s the results of ChiChi’s Day 2 Day Post that I accidentally skipped over. Totally wasn’t intentional! You’d think I would have seen that nice bright pink font! :P

You know the drill! Clocks turn back, sun’s back in the sky, and… action!

Even though I want to talk to Caily and the cops, I think it's probably safer if I chat to a student at night, and the police during the day.

Dantus seems to know what's up, and I might have a lead for him on the supply of Raze in the district-- at least, I can find out more or help out in their investigation?
Similarly, that was MY out of town friend who died! I've certainly got a few questions about whatevers going on here! I deserve to know! Could we all be about to die in horrible ways?Id love to find out how many serial killer signatures are out there... How many psychos?? I won't use the words demoni or stalker though.
And... Are there any upsetting-but-useless pieces of evidence they've confiscated? Maybe they should hand that stuff over to me, to placate my TERRIBLY DISTRAUGHT MOOD WAAAH

Talk to Dantus the Dragapult and use Diplomacy

You decide to head over to the Seabourne Police Station and talk to Dantus, the very sheriff of Seabourne Town. You figure he must know a lot of the details regarding what’s going on, but you figure as he’s the sheriff of this town, you’re going to need to convince him to trust you and the other Savants.

When you find him, you observe from a distance that while he’s exceedingly busy, especially considering the police force is greatly understaffed and he doesn’t have the law enforcement and detectives he needs, he doesn’t rush, he doesn’t stress out, and he seems to be a Pokémon of few words. You can’t imagine how he remains so calm and collected under such intense pressure…

“Hey there!” you call out to him, frustrated about what’s going on. “Dantus, right? I need your help!”

“You and everyone else in this town,” he replies, not even looking to face you as he continues looking over crime dossiers. “You’re going to need to get in line, unless you have a damn good reason why I should drop everything and work on your problem.”

You see he’s going to be a tough nut to crack and he may not be as easy to convince as some of the other civilians you've encountered…



#48 Dantus the Dragapult: {<Diplomacy> OR Drug Evidence}
(you can either complete the word search or give him the drug evidence)

Given your skill in speech, you find yourself needing to find the right words to convince him that you need his full cooperation despite him having his hands full with everything else he’s got going on. That, or give him something that proves your skills are something he needs to strongly consider supporting and to gain his cooperation.

You consider your next move carefully…

ChiChi the Tapu Lele (M: Psychic / Fairy)

Health: 20/20 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 14/20 | 6/10 Kurosuōbā | Dodge Rate: 30%
Perk: Diplomacy
Reincarnation Forms: Corviknight, Milotic, Aurorus, Espeon, Alcremie
EQUIPMENT:

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

[Neo Emolga]

Search (59) The Slacker’s Shack

Tonight, as the moon is clearly seen in the sky, you head east, cutting across the large barren landscape between Benni’s farmstead and the Slacker’s Shack. The expanse is so empty, wide, and eerily silent that for a short while, it almost feels like you’ve walked off the face of the planet and into a seemingly dark and infinite realm of emptiness.

And then you come to the dark and sickly-looking northeastern side of town that simply looks sad, decrepit, and forgotten. All except for one location. And that’s where you’re heading tonight, although you find yourself needing to get in close to detect there being any kind of life to this scorned place.

You arrive at what is called the Slacker’s Shack, what used to be a small two-story house and tavern owned by a Roserade before the business failed. Here, the windows have been covered up with heavy towels and wood planks, but you can still find faint traces of light coming from behind them. And you can faintly hear chatter and laughter inside.

You first investigate the outside. Without a doubt, the building is a neglected mess and you find a lot of the teenagers and young adults haven’t at all been responsible when it comes to keeping this place clean. But you can see that not many parents bother coming around this part of town, so it hasn’t been noticed and discovered.

There is something among the refuse that doesn’t stand out as ordinary garbage. Toward the back of the building, tucked into the walls just enough… it appears to be an odd stone plate… reminding you of something you might have seen back at the farmhouse. Something one of the other Savants picked up along the way.

The tablet Maya found at the library…

You see that it seems to have some strange engravings upon it, written in a language you’ve never seen before. You place your hoof upon it to pick it up and take a closer look, but…

Sam has inherited 2 Points of Kurosuōbā…

It takes you back, as if you’ve woken up from a lucid dream that you remembered from years ago… but only for a moment. In the end, it feels like only a faint childhood memory, but it leaves you wondering… what is this…?

…is there more to this…?

@[Pureto jo] – ~2 Kurosuōbā~@ has been added to the Team Inventory.

You take it with you, not sure what it is for, but still feeling it has to be something important. You’ve never felt anything like that before…

…at least not here. Not upon Origine. But if not in these places…

…where did you feel this before?

You decide to carry on, continuing your investigation in the shack itself. As you sneak your way inside, you find the interior is only dimly lit from a few candles and lanterns. The light and shadows seem to dance on the walls, all of which are in shabby condition. Meanwhile, all of the furniture looks cheap and mismatched, as though all of it was acquired for cheap at garage sales or dumped in the street to be collected as trash. The chairs, sofas, tables, and cabinets look like their best years are long behind them while the worn wooden floor looks old, tired, and it’s quite obvious the Pokémon here don’t care too much for being clean with all of the wrappers, containers, empty bottles, and food crumbs scattered about.

And you see some familiar faces here, too. Jupo the Whimsicott, Narshen the Cinccino, and Erine the Swoobat are here with Jupo often giggling and leading the conversation, gossiping about her customers. Danuel the Banette doesn’t talk much, mostly enjoying his alcoholic drinks while listening to Jupo’s recollections. Myta is also here, mixing different drinks and pretending to be a bartender sometimes to mixed levels of success. Kabi is also here, but doesn’t seem to be as engaged as the rest of the group, barely uttering a word the whole time. At times, Caily the Charmeleon jumps in on the conversation as well, gossiping about other students at school, especially Vocco, who the crew badmouths quite a bit. You have quite the hunch Vocco has never been invited here and doesn’t even know about this place.

Meanwhile, Velay the Buizel seems to be a newcomer here, looking like he only just recently found out about the secret society that gathers here at some nights. He's sometimes pushed to join in on the conversation too, and the group lets him describe some of the stories he has while on fishing voyages. The group finds the more he opens up and the more drinks he’s had, the more interesting he becomes. He even later gets pushed to sing a song that Erine the Swoobat wrote as Tresko the Raboot, still somewhat new to playing a guitar-like instrument, tries to come up with a tune to go along with it. At times it sounds like a goofy karaoke, but at other times it seems to sync together well and you almost want to record it if you could.

Despite it sometimes getting a bit rowdy, you can’t help but feel relaxed and at ease here in this hidden place, like a home away from home where the rules don’t matter. Sometimes the conversations almost make you laugh as well. Other times you almost feel like taking a break from your investigations to join them. All the while, something about it touches you. Tonight, it might seem silly and reckless to these Pokémon and quite rebellious to the parents these young adults and teenagers have. But for a moment, you think… twenty… thirty years from now when all these young adults have grown up and left this place and this town to go on with their lives… they’ll remember this place. They won’t forget this shabby tavern and the late-night adventures they had here. They’ll remember the friends they had here and the laughs they had together.

To the good old days… the ones we’re having right now…

You head upstairs to find the living area that Lunko lived in before closing up the tavern. Now, it’s mainly used as a small storage area where the crew keeps drinks, drugs, party games, sleeping rolls and bags in case they need to spend the night here, and plenty of plates, utensils, and containers for parties. There’s plenty of other random old belongings here that some keep here as keepsakes and others for storage.

Meanwhile, the condition of the rooms up here are similar to what’s downstairs. The wooden walls are aged and splintering and the windows have been broken for a while with only dirty towels hung over them to keep the rain out. The ceiling lights no longer work and it seems like the candles that were here to light the room burnt out a while ago.

You don’t find anything unusual at first, but then something among them seems unusual.

You shift through them with your hoof just before…

@Piercing Bite – ROCK (3 Health Damage, 3 Purity Damage)@ Trap 40% Evasion Test: 34 out of 100: Success!

You quickly withdraw your front hoof, realizing indeed… there is something foul and hidden here that you almost came into contact with. You focus your attention and you sense it…

…a Stalker’s taint.

It suddenly strikes you… someone among this group is a Stalker. There’s no way someone unassociated with the group could have hidden this here without them being seen as a normal member of the group. What you see before you seems to be a tooth at first, but you sense something dark and supernatural here. Upon closer inspection, you see it’s a fang, infused with a corrupted and crippling nether energy.

Carefully, you wrap the fang in an old blue towel. It doesn’t remove the crippling nature of the fang, but it at least makes it safe for you to carry back to Benni’s farmstead.

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

After taking one last look around, you don’t find anything else up here. Carefully and quietly, you head back downstairs, just managing to avoid detection. You then slip out the back and head into the night…

…wondering who in that group is hiding a dark secret…

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]

@Lychee
Resolving this here:



#48 Dantus the Dragapult: {<Diplomacy> OR Drug Evidence}

You realize Dantus is not the type of Pokémon that gets emotionally attached to anything. It’s quite clear he’s become desensitized from his career and the situation with the Stalkers is no different. But you find there’s at least something he cares about…

“Oh, I’m sorry,” you tell Dantus cynically. “I must have you mistaken for someone else. See, I thought Dantus was the sheriff of this town and silly me, I thought you were actually him.”

He drops what he’s doing and bingo. Now you have his attention.

“You should have known that by now,” he looks back at you, abandoning his dossiers for the moment. “Yes, I am Dantus and I am the sheriff of this town.”

“Then start acting like it!” you call out to him. “You know you and Yanza can’t handle all of this. Tell me, when did you have the highest number of cops and detectives working here? Judging by the number of desks, it had to be… say… two, three dozen at one point? How long ago was that? And what do you have now?”

He goes silent, taking his small, blue clawed hands off of the pile of dossiers as he turns around and narrows his gaze upon you. He doesn’t give you an answer, but you know you don’t need one. He did once have that many. And not too long ago at all. You keep firm with your approach, knowing Dantus would never open up to anyone that’s a softie or can’t stand their ground. You know around him, you need to show you have balls, even if you personally think it might come across as rude to someone else.

“I want to know everything you’ve got on the Stalkers,” you insist to Dantus. “Everything. Not the watered-down ‘civilian’ version of the story.”

“What would you even do with it?” he asks you. “I don’t lay all my trust on just anyone.”

“Then who would you trust?” you ask him rationally. “I’m not asking for payment. I had a friend murdered by these Stalker bastards and I want their head screaming on a stick just as much as you do. And really, your concern is trust now? What do you have to lose besides… oh, I dunno… your entire town at this point? Let me tell you how the story ends if you don’t help me help you. You die, Yanza dies, your whole family dies, and so on and so forth because well, at least you didn’t trust the wrong Pokémon here, right?! What a deal. No, your trust dies with you if we don’t help each other. You know what’s going on in this town and you’re actually still worried about who might be privy to your investigation? That’s what you’re afraid of?”

“I’m not afraid of anything. Fine, if this is what you’re after, then consider yourself lucky, because I’m at the point where I don’t give a damn. I’ll tell you what I know not because I think you’re some secret all-star detective or you’re some good Samaritan, but because I actually want to see if you can back those claims up and actually make use of what I’m about to tell you.”

“Seabourne has had murders in the past,” Dantus begins. “Every town does. But we knew something was going on when five… possibly six distinct murder signatures intensified in town. Some of them leave names, proud of their kills. Others seem to prefer being anonymous. We lost some detectives and Yanza and myself can’t gather what we really need with just the two of us now. So if you think you have the balls for this, then do it and prove it, because I don’t envy anyone who will need to dig further into what has already caused several of my detectives to put in their resignations. We’re not even running on fumes at this point.”

“I know you’ve heard of Exonull,” Dantus tells you. “Likes to kill flying Pokémon. We’ve tried to find inconsistences in case this was a bad assumption but there’s never been one. This Stalker will only go exclusively after these types of Pokémon. They rip their wings off and make the victim suffocate on them. We originally classified these as hate crimes, but something in them appears to be rooted in jealously with traces of self loathing. That’s why these cases didn’t make sense to me at first, but then I was able to grasp this Stalker has had their aspirations altered and corrupted.”

“Inzaketh is another one,” Dantus explains. “You wanted to see evidence of this Stalker? This is what it looks like, but don’t mishandle it.”

He then hands you what looks like a piece of a wreath of thorns with blood on them, using a cloth towel to carry it before he passes it to you…

#Dark Lacerations – GRASS (4 Health Damage, 4 Purity Damage)# Trap 30% Evasion Test: 89 out of 100: Failed!

You reach out to grab it, but your black hands lose their grip on the towel and you instinctively grab the wreath before it hits the ground not realizing it’s cursed and dangerous…

The thorns quickly šͤ͊̊͂͑i̻̲̯̼̮ͨ̇͗͆ͧnk ̖̯̞̒̎̏i̻̲̮̜̝̾̎̍̒ͤn̬̪̪̪͍̩t̼̩͙̯̬̠͈̓ͮ̒̽̄ͪ̒o̮̎ͣ͂ͨ̊ ͍̤͉̝ yó̎ŭ̘r͉̻̈́ͨ ̖͙̗̼ͧ̆̈́ͥfl̩̠̠̯͇e͙̰̤̦̹͉ͫͮ͋̔͆ͧs̻̏hͫͣ́ and you gawk and moan in pain, eyes bulging, blackening, and you feel like you could vo̭̲̔ͤm̜͓̹̗̭̰̗͌̍ͩ͛ͧ̈́̿it̗̟̣̙ ̾͋̓͂ͬ̊ͤṵ̥̱̼̹̾̌̉̈̐p̄̉͊ b̠̖͓̳͔͉͙̀ͨ̏ͩͤͣͧl̮̹͍̩͌̒̍̿o̫̯̠̥ͬ͒ͣ̏ő̦̯͉̳̲̗̐̆̓͆ͥd̑̃ͬ ̰̮̣̬̽ ̙͓͋̃ăͮ̌ͣ̂͆̂ṇ̼͓͖͔̩̹̆ͬ̓ͧ̍͌̚d̯̺ ̲̳̖̟͔̘̮̽ͮͬ̂̏͒ͮi̩c̠͚̮͇͈ͦ͂̍ͮ͋h̥̩̟͕͍̾̐ͫ̍ͯo̞̠ͯ̽͆ͣͫ ̦̺̠r right out of your very soul.

ChiChi has suffe̟̯̖͉̲̻͉ͮ̊ͭ̽ͧͫ̂red 4 Damage to Hea̪̯̰̮͉͎͐͋̈ͭ̍͑lth and Pur̖͎ͪ̆ity.

“Didn’t I just say to be careful with that? Don’t touch that damn thing again, it almost killed one of my other detectives. Just before she quit.”

You nod, feeling sick and in pain, but this time, you carefully wrap the towel over the wreath fragment.

@[Bloody Thorn Wreath (Part 1 of 3)] Dark Lacerations – GRASS – (4 Health Damage, 4 Purity Damage)@ has been added to the Team Inventory.

“To get to the point,” Dantus continues, “that’s Inzaketh’s work. Anything with spikes, thorns, briars, you can thank them for that. We’re not sure why this is a signature trait for this Stalker, but every victim we’ve found was killed by organic materials like these. We did the math and never once did we find someone lacerated or impaled by something made of metallic or synthetic materials. Inzeketh only uses what can occur in nature.”

“If you’ve heard of Pokémon killing themselves by cutting themselves up and trying to rearrange the severed and extracted pieces, that’s from a Stalker named Languished,” Dantus continues. “At first, we believe this was solely from inflicting a kind of psychic psychosis upon the victim up until this went deeper. It becomes more psychologically self-destructive. Those who know the victims claim they heard them hating themselves, trying to rearrange all the ‘ugly’ parts to become something beautiful. Obviously none of it worked, but it had the victim believing they had to suffer for it and it was an ends to justify the means up until it kills them.”

“Fallow is not a Stalker many know about, but we have some material on them,” Dantus explains further. “This is your child-killer. I only know a few details, but Yanza has been more on top of this one. At least three children have been murdered by Fallow with their faces blacked out with oil or black paint. We believe it must have been heated to the point of boiling. Attempts to remove it from the faces of these children revealed it can’t be done, leaving the child essentially faceless.”

“We believe there’s two others,” Dantus tells you. “We don’t have names, however. Not yet, but that’s where you can come in. There is a Stalker that causes rapid and unnaturally fast decay and decomposition in their victims. And the other is an anomaly. We’ve found several Pokémon victims, dead from a brain aneurism in their sleep. It was believed to be natural causes at first until it kept happening multiple times. And it took us some time to realize there were reports of some Pokémon experiencing dreams of murdering the aneurism victim on the same night that victim died. That’s no coincidence and that’s already happened multiple times. A therapist named Velta, a Mothim, came to us against patient confidentiality protocol and reported this happened with several of her patients and that these patients woke up feeling depression and guilt. We were about to inquire for more details about these reports and the discussions she had with her patients before Exonull killed her, too.”

“I’m now going to need to refer you to Yanza if you want her side of everything,” Dantus tells you, getting back to his dossiers. “She’s been out in the field more than I have. I have enough to do here as is, so if you’re serious about this, take what I’ve told you and make damn good use of it.”

ChiChi the Tapu Lele (M: Psychic / Fairy)

Health: 16/20 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 10/20 | 6/10 Kurosuōbā | Dodge Rate: 30%
Perk: Diplomacy
Reincarnation Forms: Corviknight, Milotic, Aurorus, Espeon, Alcremie
EQUIPMENT:

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

[Neo Emolga]

I will talk to Caily the Charmeleon tonight

Interview Rapport: POSITIVE
+1 Similar Evolution Stage (2of3)

Tonight, you seek out Caily, who you find walking home from the Slacker’s Shack that Sam had visited not too long ago. You manage to get a hold of her before she goes to her apartment in the Twinbank Apartments building.

You approach Caily and introduce yourself.

“Sup, Maya, how’s things going?” she asks you in a cheerful, friendly manner.

Having gotten several pieces of the story, you’re aware of where Caily might fit in when it comes to the situation regarding Sarkkan, Kabi, and Vocco, so you decide to inquire more. And you ask if Caily might know something about the Stalkers or has seen something unusual lately.

“Yeah, it’s a complicated thing,” she replies. “Sarkkan and Kabi used to be friends. They used to study together and they were pretty bookish. Yeah, not my style. Hey, as long as I pass my classes, it’s all good. Sarkkan is pretty serious about getting the best grades he can, but hey, to me, that’s just raising the bar on yourself, you know what I’m saying? Being straight A means you always gotta be straight A with no time for your own life.”

“Well, Kabi was like that, too,” Caily continues, smirking. “I think she got sick of him, you know? Maybe she’s quitting the whole ‘gotta be the valedictorian’ thing. Yeah, who needs that? See, we invited Kabi recently to the Slacker’s Shack, a fun little place we’ve got on the side of town that the adults think is abandoned. She came tonight, but she’s still kinda moody. Didn’t want to drink anything, didn’t want to chat much, but hey, maybe in time she’ll be like the rest of the crew, eh? Heck, if Sarkkan were to lighten up a little and learn how to have fun, I’d invite him, too, but nah, the dude’s just going to study all night long and sure, he’ll have a whole lot of A+s but not a whole lot of friends. See, friends are more important that some red letter on an exam paper.”

“Vocco… well, Vocco is Vocco and I’ve yet to see him invited to the Shack, but that’s mainly because of the stuff he’s done,” Caily tells you. “But I think he’s been dealing with his own issues. He’s got a kleptomaniac thing going, but he’s been struggling with identity as well, having recently come out as trans. He never talks about his parents and yeah, I just don’t want to ask. Heck, my mom’s got impossible to satisfy tastes and my dad’s cool and chill, but he’s a lazy-butt. Heh, I can be a lazy-butt too, at times. Drives mom crazy.”

“Ok, so… weird stuff,” Caily tells you, almost snickering. “So one of my professors… Zakra… she’s a real pile of trash. Math freak, big ego, ugh… she’s just a real pain in the ass. So the other day in class, she had some weird stone tablet with her and I had no idea what she was doing with it. She said she recently found it, but couldn’t understand it. So I was like… well, miss, why hold onto it? She’s trying to find someone that can help explain it to her. Like… huh? Isn’t she supposed to be some super-smart psychic? That’s rare that she admits there’s something she doesn’t know when she always acts like she knows everything. But hey, if you talk to her, ask her about it. Maybe someone’s pranking her. Ooh, I hope so. But anyway, see if you can figure it out, because I’d love to see someone stump her. I looked at the thing and I just shrugged. No idea what it’s about. Looks like something that would just put dropped on a museum shelf and no one would touch the thing again for eons.”

“Oh yeah, and Verio,” she reminds herself. “He was delivering mail yesterday and I just happened to run into him. Was a pretty nice day, but the guy seems really stressed out regardless of how nice the weather is. I mean he’s always been a little on edge, but it’s been pretty bad lately. Way more than usual. He even mentioned something about ‘the demons’ and kept muttering like there was someone with him the entire time when he was totally all alone. Like I could hear him say ‘stop watching me’ or ‘I need more time’ and other weird stuff like that. It’s odd, usually he’s not like that. I dunno, maybe talk to the guy, see what’s up. I tried but he didn’t want to talk about anything and he just went along on his way. Weird stuff. Maybe he’s been dealing with these Stalkers? Or… damn, didn’t really occur that he could be one himself, but I suppose that’s plausible, too.”

“But hey, no sweats, we just gotta hang in there and not let things like this break us down, eh?” she looks to you with a confident smile. “These kinds of things are always temporary.”

“But anywho, nice meeting you, Maya!” Caily beams. “You have a good night and hey, maybe join us at the Shack sometime, eh? Just don’t go telling anyone’s parents about it. It’s our little secret!”

Maya the Pikachu (S: Electric)

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

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

[Neo Emolga]

He attaches The Rose to his chest like a corsage. Good thing it was untrapped, the thing would flatline him easily!

"Alright, loose ends time. Equip the Security Armor from inventory, then PUT THE THING IN THE THING!

...By which I mean stab the vase at the Macro Market with this spooky rose and try not to die horribly. Full health's gotta count for something, right?"

Knowing what you are about to do may have dark and unexpected consequences, you take the plated security armor from the storage cabinet and put it on. And then you grab the Blackened Rose, feeling at least a bit more ready for anything.

Nickelfool has equipped the +|A| Security Armor+ (2H)

Tonight, you head toward the Macro Market, letting Benni know you’re going to get to the bottom of this dark anomaly she discovered. She sighs, hoping for the best although she doesn’t know what to expect and what will come out of all this. Either way, she’s hoping the next time she goes to the Macro Market, this dark vase will be gone and no trace of it will remain. From there, only time can heal the wounds as the memories get more vague, the details decay, and the whole experience becomes forgotten.

You leave the farmstead and walk your way toward the Macro Market, intent on seeing what this dark relic might have in store. As you’ve see times before with the Stalkers, to put an end to them, it requires one to be on the offensive. And now you’re doing just that.

You make your way to the back of the store and enter the same way Sam did last night, using the broken pull-down door as your entry point. The latch still has yet to be repaired, but in the end, it makes it easier for you to get inside. The whole time, however, it reminds you of just how easy it would be for anyone to shoplift anything they wanted out of this store.

Once there, you head through the loading and storage areas and then into the main market area. And then you head toward where the home goods are, finding the same pots and vases that Sam discovered earlier. It takes a minute to find it, but you track down the location of this dark relic and while shadowed in the presence of the more colorful vases, it still has the presence of the Stalkers… a presence that normal Pokémon cannot detect.

Carefully, you place the Blacked Rose into the vase…

Nickelfool has used [The Blackened Rose].

@Deep Corruption – ROCK (6 Purity Damage)@ Trap 30% Evasion Test: 83 out of 100: Failed!

As the dark rose is inserted, the vase suddenly rattles, causing you to impulsively withdraw your hand out of shock… but in the process your wrist ma̠͍̪͚̜̗̤ke̙s̲̗̪ͅ ͉̞co̥̖̮͕̳̱̗n̥̺̻̦̼̮ta͎̥̯̜c͎͎͖t͉ ̤͕̩w̺̘̜͎̳͇i̦ṯ̯̗̻̗h̘̟͈̪̬̦ t͖̘̭̥ḫe̜͉ v̰̖̘ͅas̹e̫̪…

…your vision darkens for a moment as you feel a sudden fear and hopelessness take a firm grip on your throat…

…you’re still fighting? Why? You already know how this ends…

“I need… to save this town,” you try to remind yourself as you fight against this belittling voice.

…so it can die another day from something else. You cannot stop it from becoming dust. Does delaying
the inevitable really mean that much to you?

You clasp the prayer beads that are strung around your neck. The blessing upon them absorbs some of the darkness, allowing you to breathe…

Nickelfool’s +|J| Prayer Beads+ (2P) have absorbed 2 Purity damage.

But the relentless assault continues… far beyond what they can resist…

…you, him, her, everyone… everything you see and love is GONE. In 80 years or so, everyone you’ve ever known will be dead, buried, and forgotten under a crumbling, grime-slathered grave. These buildings will be collapsed… these plants withered… it all gets older every day and there’s nothing you can do to stop it…

“…”

…and you’re guilty of it, too. Guilty of believing you actually have any kind of control over any of this. You keep doing it, but you can’t even pretend like you understand what’s really important. It’s like trying to paddle backwards before you tumble down the waterfall. You gain nothing.

Ṉ̬͕̱̼͖͎̙͓͕̝̟̹͇ͪ͑͊̓̈́̈ͦͮͭͧ̂̀͊͛͜͠͠Ờ̷͍̩͔̰̩ͦ̀̈̈́̃̅ͮ͐͜ ̝̖ͅͅT͢͞HÎ̶̤̯̟͙̱̰͚͇̥͚̮̥̝ͩ̿͑̅̂ͣ̄̉͂͐̍̾N̴̶͘G̢͊̾̑͋ ̗͙̙̱

You only suffer longer. That’s what you gain.

Nickelfool has suffered 2 Purity damage.

D̑ͩo ̥yͥO͚̓U̺͉ ǩ̝̞̠̄̍n̖̾O͇̩̻͛̓̅W ̗͍͌̑th̫̳͚E da̗T͎̫͋̈́E͈͈͗ͤ i͆T͛ͥ̑ ̬H̤̦ͪ͌A̦̦pp͇̲͎͒ͥ̂EN̓̓͑S̲̐!͍͚̙̓́͐?͊ͮͣ ̥̑D͇͕̮̄͊ͨO yOU̝!̝͇?̱̞͋ͬ

…And to think the only thing that keeps you sane… is the fact you’re ignorant of it all. You don’t know the day you die. Or how it will happen. Or the day the world finally buries and forgets the last remaining traces of you, as if you never existed. But what if you did know?

W͔̞̓ͫH̄̈a̤̱ͩ̊T If̘̘ͥ̌ ̼ͭͬͅỴ̻ȏ̙̝̈U͈ D̋i͎͂d̦͆!̩?͕̘̊̒

And then for one dark moment, your mind is flushed with the possibilities of how many ways you could die and when it could happen. It’s the fact you truly don’t know, but it’s that incessant voice that tells you yes, it will happen in one way or another. And you don’t know when. It could be in minutes… it could be tomorrow… or years from now. And the many… many ways anyone could die. It becomes a hellish soup of how, when, why, where, by what and possibly by who… it’s the questions that leave your will feeling hollow, almost devoid of determination. But then for a second, you can comprehend them all… and it suddenly guts any bravery you might have mustered…

Nickelfool has suffered 2 Purity damage.

It ends shortly after, but it leaves your spirit feeling wounded… broken… questioning just why you’re even doing this in the first place and why the hell you’re even here… wondering what do you truly deserve for what you’ve done… or what you hope to have…

When you look up and snap out of the trance, you no longer see the vase before you. There are no dust or fragments of it anywhere as if it was only just some horrible figment of your imagination, but instead some grim, leathery paper-like material lies before you on the shelf where the vase once was. You pick it up, and feel a sense of shame and guilt in doing so…



[=1st Half of the Macabre Mantra=] has been added to the Team Inventory.

You’re not sure what it means in full and it’s only an incomplete part of something else. Something darker. But you can make out certain words and phrases… “we are all banded by evil…” … “just one among many…” …and “eat your guilt.” But the rest is vague, broken, and missing critical pieces. For a dark moment… it looks and feels almost as stripped as you do right now…

You decide to leave the store… feeling like less of yourself than how you first came in…

Nickolas "Nicklefool" Foligan the Mr. Mime (M: Psychic / Fairy)

Health: 20/20 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 16/20 | Dodge Rate: 30%
Perk: Diplomacy
Reincarnation Forms: Hisuian Zoroak, Mr. Rime, Decidueye, Gardevoir, Aegislash
EQUIPMENT:

• Defense Armor: +|A| Security Armor+ (2H)
• Jewelry: +|J| Prayer Beads+ (2P)

[Neo Emolga]

I'll search (5) Jadebreeze Forest.

As the largest forest in Seabourne Town, you decide to take the short walk from Benni’s farmstead to see if it is hiding any secrets of its own. It’s a small forest, seemingly innocent and likely not scrutinized by most of the townspeople here, but you decide for those very reasons, it might hide something. In dark and forgotten places… you know these Stalkers might see an opportunity…

As you head into the trees, you almost feel a sense of peace and escape. It has a tranquil feeling, almost supernatural to a degree. As you go further in, you look behind you and now see you’re surrounded by trees in all directions, providing plenty of shade with their leafy branches… as if a protective barrier shielding you from whatever harm might drop from the sky. All the while, the forest is quiet tonight, as if carefully sleeping and dreaming in these silent shadows. And yet never once do you feel lost or bewildered… but instead invited further in. Only the occasional rustle of the breezes caressing the leaves can be heard, and it almost reminds you of the ocean.

You’re almost surprised other Pokémon don’t come to this place for relief… at least you don’t think they do… …or do they?

The question you mull over suddenly gets plucked out of your mind when your blue clawed foot strikes against an old, metallic lockbox, gently placed in one of the small shrubs and carefully hidden from sight as the wild grass encircles it. You bend down to take a closer look, and while the old dusty lockbox looks to be like an antique, it was moved to this very spot. Recently, in fact. But why?

You try to open it, but it’s locked shut. You see what’s needed to unlock it, but it’s the most unusual key. You realize some kind of medallion-shaped object would need to be placed into the indentation and then turned, where several hooks and latches in the lock mechanism would be pushed and pulled in just the right way that the lock’s mechanism would be disengaged. And because of this unique design, you imagine standard lockpicking tools would not be able to do the job the key medallion would be able to do…

{Old Dusty Lockbox: Missing Medallion Key} was noted in the Team Records.

What also strikes you as unusual is that the lockbox does have a faint trace of Stalker corruption, but only just a bit. It makes you wonder just why it would only be in a small amount as opposed to the full defilement most Stalker belongings seem to have…

You decide to take note of it and possibly come back later if you find the medallion key that looks like it could be compatible with it.

As you further walk into the forest, you discover a very small clearing in what feels like a hidden, very forgotten part of the forest. In the center of that clearing you find what looks to be a well… very otherworldly in design with a purple-colored ornamental roof and what appears to be a somewhat crystalline basin… seemingly looking like it was pulled out of some fantasy world.

You approach it and come closer… and then look into the well itself, just wondering what might be inside…

…

…upon being close to death, there are those that say they see their memories and their lives flash before them…

…

…but here, you see different kinds of memories flash before your eyes as you stare into the strange, glowing cyan-colored water… all starting from the day you were born… in every life you’ve lived. They are vivid now, and they are ambiguous at first. They almost play out like movies… visions of the past lives you had. You see yourself… as if sensing like you did these things before, but in another time and place… not in your past… but at some time… years and years ago… generations of time playing out before you… in visions…

…and you see yourself do the fantastical and in places of both wonder and darkness. Your aspirations, your fears… but running… flying… heart racing…

…

…what am I watching… what am I seeing here…?

It doesn’t make sense in the beginning, but as time passes, the visions become more familiar. What was forgotten is suddenly remembered as you breathe in what feels like the memories you once had while sleeping.

…

Dreams.

ALL of them. All the dreams you ever had in all your lives replay out before you, and suddenly you remember them all. The adventures of your best dreams, the stress and fears of your nightmares, but the well assures you that you are safe… and that you are here…

…to learn…

…to discover what your dreams truly are and to grasp the full power of each of them. Even when they made you feel scared, weak, worried… but also when they made you feel empowered, courageous, or even when they made you feel strange and perplexed at what could defy logic and reason. But you see through new eyes and reflect upon these dreams that were reborn for you… all to learn from them...

Scy has inherited 5 points of Kurosuōbā…

“…is this real… is there more to this…?”

@{Funsui} - ~5 Kurosuōbā~@ was noted in the Team Records.

You awaken… feeling as though you’ve traveled for a very faraway place… a dream library… for a long time… and viewed the entire archive… but have only been standing here for a few minutes. But you remembered it all… the strange, the uncanny, the nightmarish, and the fulfilling… and everything beyond and in-between.

You feel so close to understanding what it’s truly all for, but you’re just a small grasp away. For a brief moment, you still can’t understand who constructed this well, but you feel you know why it’s here. Truly… there has to be an answer… a purpose… a meaning… and you’re just a breath from understanding the essence of this discovery.

It’s getting late, and you decide to go for now. But you feel like coming back in time… returning to this place… revisiting your dreams once again… to possibly understand what links all this together… and what it’s all for… you feel so close… but still just too far away to understand…

You return to Benni’s farmstead… feeling different… but refreshed… and inspired. As though you can’t wait to sleep tonight… and to dream once more… to continue the stories… to add more to your library… of dreams…

…

Yume awaits you, Savant...

…

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: <Empty>

[Neo Emolga]

I can't say I seem to recall every attending a school before. Hm... well, regardless, I'll be attending one now, even if I doubt this is the intended way to do so. Perhaps I'll still be able to garner some knowledge from this higher institute of learning? Let's find out. Time to search (28) Beachwood University.

As the moon is lit up in the sky, you venture out of Benni’s farmstead and head south through town to investigate Beachwood University, trying to follow leads that one of the students there may be a Stalker. The night is quiet and the dusty roads seem quite vacant. You’re not sure if it’s because of the late hour or if because Seabourne’s citizens are now too afraid to venture out in the nighttime hours. Either way, the peace and quiet is nice, but the loneliness is concerning, especially given the fact there are Stalkers constantly on the prowl… pretending to be normal Pokémon.

When you arrive at the university, you find the campus building is quite old and looks like it’s been through several renovation and repair jobs, although from your perspective, some of them look like they were rushed and only put a bandage on the real issues at hand. Attempts to repair brick walls and incorporate the repaired portions with the portions that were unaffected were handled poorly. And some areas of the walls weren’t even painted, as if the repair job was solely to keep it functional and not show any concern for the appearance of the building.

You decide to pursue the information that Kabi gave earlier regarding what Caily found, seeking out the locked hatch at the back of the building. You’re thinking it’s probably only some custodian or groundskeeping storage area, but you decide to see if you can find what she was talking about. From your perspective, it has to mean something and something about it had to have struck her as unusual. Otherwise she never would have mentioned it.

From an initial search of the exterior grounds and building perimeter, you don’t find anything drastically unusual besides a few pieces of litter in the form of papers, crushed food cans, and scrap metal. But using the moonlight as your guide, you eventually find what this locked hatch is in the location Kabi mentioned. And from an initial look, it doesn’t seem like it’s at all related to the building itself. And it doesn’t look like the groundskeeping supply cabinet, either.

Instead, it’s made of stone, bearing a similar design and style that immediately reminds you of the Taika Temppeli you found in the Kako Industries Field. You tell yourself there’s no denying the resemblance and that somehow the two are linked. Laying before you is a stone hatch bearing an unusual-looking marking… and then you realize there was something here that was removed some time ago, leaving only an outline marker of where the sigil used to be. It appears some kind of insignia was once here and was removed, and it seems as though this functioned as some kind of key. With it removed, you find five small indentations with groves and rounded nubs inside of them. You try to see if you can bypass this ancient and unusual locking mechanism using your lockpicking tools, but you find it’s impossible. There are five contact points the missing insignia key triggers all at once and you would have to grow three more arms to be able to pull off simulating the insignia key’s activation.

{Phudistus Makuuhuone: Missing Arvomerkki} has been noted in the Team Records.

You look up at the rest of the university once again and something about history comes to mind. Like maybe this university was something else at one point, even though the hatch seems to be ancient. It gets you wondering, but you figure it would require a lot of deep investigation to get all the answers, and right now you’re convinced it could take years and you don’t have that kind of time. For now, you just decide to keep a watch out for that insignia, wherever it might be. You’re just hoping it’s still out there somewhere…

You then use the rest of the evening to investigate the rest of the university, finding the campus to be quite small and it feels odd with some sections of the building looking decrepit while others look like they were recently renovated. The whole interior feels almost like patchwork in a chimera kind of way.

As you search the style-varying classrooms and halls, you can also tell there’s been plenty of unrest going on here as well between students that insist on excusing themselves from attending class to those that feel their education is still critical to the point where they still attend each session. Meanwhile, you find a lot of the classes here are teaching vocational roles for engineering, architecture, metalworking, and so on. However, the whole while, you keep thinking about that Phudistus Makuuhuone hatch just outside. What did this building first start off as many years ago? Was it once connected to that many years ago and just has been undergoing a constant and unsteady mutation over time into this university? You keep looking for signs that might link the two… paying special attention to any ancient-looking walls and fixtures. They’re few and far between on this campus now and they haven’t been well-preserved, but there are some traces there. Old stone columns feel like a reminder, along with a mural by the back of the building that looks like it’s been faded out long ago, but you can still see very faint traces of what might have been some kind of religious depiction. They all have something in common in that these remnants are too heavy and huge to remove.

The whole time you wander through the hastily-constructed patchwork hallways, you also consider it somewhat unusual there’s a distinct lack of a basement area access when you feel like the layout of the building implies there’s something underneath given the floorplan layout. You feel like there’s indications that one exists and the hatch implies there’s something under the first floor, but there’s simply no way to access it from the inside and the stone foundation floor feels very thick, as though no one would dare to consider digging through it to see what’s underneath. And you realize it’s quite likely no one that uses this building even considered there’s possibly something underground. They simply believe under the main floor, there’s nothing but dirt, so why dig through it?

Ultimately, you don’t find anything else that gives you clues, but you feel if you can find that insignia, something might make more sense here…

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:

• Defense Armor: +|A| Sentry Armor+ (2H)
• Jewelry: <Empty>

[Neo Emolga]

((Am I just routinely too late to submit an action?? My last action got ignored ;_;
I guess maybe I actually am for this one, the countdown says 0. Blehhhh. What do I do now? ))

Alright! Its possible that I had a busy night, and its possible that I did nothing at all, but either way, I'm off to do another interview today!

ChiChi is aiming to talk to Kulsso the church leader, using diplomacy, of course. But.... I do want to get that eye off him. And any information he has gathered about it-- I know he's been at the library! Its a public place, I haven't been spying or anything!

(NOT forgetting this time!)

You find Kulsso the Rampardos coming back from the library to the Birthright Chapel, but you realize he’s only a servant to Junlus the Accelgor, where Junlus is in fact the church leader. Still, you’ve heard Kulsso has the eye and you want to know more about it.

You approach him and politely introduce yourself to him, although he doesn’t seem at all interested in talking to you. But you follow him for a bit despite his attempt to walk past you and dismiss your inquiry.

“Do you know anything about the Stalkers?” you ask him, trying to delve into any information he might know. “Or have you seen anything unusual lately?”

“Of course not,” he dismisses your questions as he refuses to make eye contact. “I’m a simple servant for Junlus, and that’s all you need to know.”

But you know better than that.

You close your eyes, smirk, look away a bit, and then open one eyelid look at him in the corner of your eye.

“Tsk, tsk…” you smirk. “You think I don’t know about that eye you have? I’ve heard from multiple Pokémon and reliable sources that have seen you with it. So let’s see, that makes you a sinner, a liar, and possibly a thief. I’ll give you a break, though. You can tell me how you came across it and you can avoid trouble with Dantus and Yanza, along with your master, Junlus. Or I can let them know about this and that it’s very plausible grounds to open up an investigation on how you might be a Stalker, which will undoubtedly land you in prison and excommunicated from your parish. Unless you give me some really great reasons why not to do this.”

“You wouldn’t!” he suddenly exclaims in shock. “Don’t you dare, I… I can explain everything! How many Pokémon even know about… ugh…”

#60 Kulsso the Rampardos has become Compliant.

“I… I found this… eye… in one of the pews in the Birthright Chapel.” He confesses. “I was cleaning the interior of the chapel and there it was. At first I thought it was some toy that a child left behind until I realized the true dark nature of this… thing. I… held onto it wondering if someone would come later to ask for it, but something about it made me feel ill. See for yourself.”

He then hands you the dark corrupted eye…

#Spirit Hemorrhage – DARK (4 Purity Damage)# Trap 30% Evasion Test: 13 out of 100: Success!

“Stop touching it, it’s corrupted!” you exclaim to him, suddenly observing what’s going on.

The whole time, it has been leaking a black, pus-like ooze and every drop of it has been absorbing into his dark-gray hand and wriggling its way into his spirt. Out of shock and alarm, he drops it onto the ground where it rolls over a few times on the sandy gritty earth before stopping… now looking up at you directly… as if alive͓ ̖aͅṋ͇d̤ ͇̱s͚̜ta̖̤̝rt̹͈ͅi̘͓ng̪͖͔ i̺͕ͅṉ̹ṭo y̤ọu͕r ̦ͅͅsou͕̻l̹…

“How is it doing that!?” Kulsso shouts in shock. “What is this foul thing!?”

“I need a towel…” you tell him as you bend down to take a closer look, knowing as a servant to Junlus, he should have something like that on him. “Something to wrap it with. This thing is absolutely rife with Stalker contamination.”

He takes a step back, but still keeps a panicked and concerned glance at the eye like it could jump up and start attacking him at any second.

“How… can you be so sure?” he asks.

But it almost feels like a stupid question to him seconds later. Even he, as a normal Pokémon unaware of the Savants and your ability to detect dark presences, can see this unholy object is inherently evil. He excuses himself and reaches into his side carrying pack to give you the thickest and most absorbent towel he has on him at the moment. You take it, throw it on top of the eye, and wrap it before picking it up.

#[Eye of Shadow] Spirit Hemorrhage – DARK (4 Purity Damage))# has been added to the Team Inventory.

“Dear Arceus, please, whatever you do, don’t tell anyone about this…” he pleads.

“No,” you tell him. “You have to warn the others. They need to be on the lookout for things like this and they need to know about this thing you found so they’re aware of the details. Kulsso, they’re after you, Junlus, they’re after members of your parish, and they’re after children and innocent Pokémon.”

He hesitates for a moment, and then it becomes apparent what the eye has been doing to him. Lying, hiding… eating away into his spirt… turning him into something darker. He suddenly thinks about all the other Pokémon in town he knows and what risks are at hand if he doesn’t let the others know…

“I… understand,” he tells you, nodding, trying to pull himself together. “You’re right. I… well, there’s something else I need to tell you.”

“It’s about Santea,” he lowers his voice. “I… I think she might have something similar to this… dark eye. She… she works at the library and I saw her trying to conduct research on this… jar or some container holding a purple and black… I… it looked like some kind of soul or spirit was inside of that vessel. She’s normally very quiet and… might I say mysterious. I don’t know if she’s hiding something or if she’s conducting dark work in secret. Dare I say some of the books I’ve seen at that library strike me as unusual, dealing with the occult… with ancient dark work. I saw one of the books she was looking through and I could only make out one word. Phudistus. Someone… maybe you need to ask her about it. Find out what she knows, if you can. But me… I can’t. You see, I have... I don't have the best reputation with her...”

“I apologize for earlier,” he tells you. “With everything that’s going on… it’s hard to trust anyone now…”

“It’s not too late…” you remind him. “But we’re running out of time…”

…

ChiChi the Tapu Lele (M: Psychic / Fairy)

Health: 16/20 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 10/20 | 6/10 Kurosuōbā | Dodge Rate: 30%
Perk: Diplomacy
Reincarnation Forms: Corviknight, Milotic, Aurorus, Espeon, Alcremie
EQUIPMENT:

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

[Neo Emolga]

#27 Sanfer the Druddigon has been murdered by the Stalkers.

That next morning, a new murder had been reported by Nimsher the Gabite. She had found the older dragon Pokémon dead from a brain aneurism, having never woken up from his bed. In times before, this might have been seen as natural but unfortunate.

But by now, Dantus and Yanza knew not to dismiss these particular kinds of incidents this way.

“Sanfer, age 47,” Yanza stated as she took notes and looked over his ID and information. “Worked fulltime at Ennomark, family and next of kin outside of town. Relocated roughly four years ago due to company decisions.”

She felt as though it was almost useless to go through his medical records and history. At this point, she knew a Stalker had something to do with this. But what kept baffling her was how they were doing it.

“We don’t even know the name of the one doing this, do we?” Yanza asked.

“This one keeps alluding us,” Dantus replied, having been unable to figure it out himself. “At this point, it could be multiple entities.”

Yanza flipped through her notes, trying to figure out some kind of pattern to all of the murders that were related to this particular Stalker. But it was like a labyrinth that kept pulling her in other directions.

“This one has been impossible to figure out,” she sighs. “Apparently the victims die in their sleep from the aneurism, but then other Pokémon reported having some kind of nightmare where they were the killers. Now, if I’m not mistaken… Rujlo reported having one of those kinds of dreams, but then later was killed by Inzaketh. So he couldn’t have been a Stalker himself, right?”

At this point, Yanza could only draw theories. Theories that would be nearly impossible to test and would no doubt consume precious time. But she knew it was either this or be chasing shadows. It was as though they were playing tricks on her.

“It’s unlikely,” Dantus replied, still taking a bit of caution with that assumption. “I wouldn’t say impossible, however.”

But then, he looked to the body of the Druddigon, wondering what that dream must have been like. How could the two of them even search for clues… when it seemed the crime happened in a place and realm they couldn’t even enter…?

Doom Tracker:
2/15