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Post by DataNinja on May 13, 2018 0:54:46 GMT
"I dunno, Cecil," Christine teases, dryly, "I think you've got rather a knack for sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong. And your hands. And just generally going places you shouldn't. If it's not too far out of our way, I guess we could take a look... but I don't feel the best about dragging Joyce and Bunnie in there with us. What if something happens?"The visit in town had been fruitful, although her pack is a lot less full of Purgative than she'd have liked. Apparently they seemed to have not expected the previous virtually total buyout of stock, so the prices were... fairly high. She'd at least been able to barter some of the apparently valuable metals from the vault for a greater quantity than she'd otherwise have been able to buy. It was something, at least... but who knows when they'd be able to stock up again. "So," she says, after they'd walked a little away from the town, "I, uh, picked up a saddle for Clarion in town, and figured while we're just walking, I might be able to try a little flight, while it's all pretty safe. It's weird... I never considered riding a Pokémon or anything beforehand, but, now, I feel like I can do it, like I almost know what it's like. I just need to see. I trusted the knowledge that wasn't mine back in the Vault, and that seemed to work out. So... I want to know if that still holds." She threads her fingers through her hair, lingering on the fringes where it had turned pink. "I just... I want to trust it, but it came from that place. So I don't know if it can. Anyways," Christine chuckles nervously. "Wish me luck. I'll let you know if I see anything interesting."Bought saddle (200 caps), 1 each of Cheri, Chesto, Pecha, Rawst, Aspear, Persim berries (90 caps total), and 10 Purgative ($1500 worth of precious metals).
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Post by Lockdown on May 15, 2018 2:59:56 GMT
With Christine flying overhead, the group forms up and begins to make its way out of the settlement, heading in the direction of the quarry that the Sage had mentioned. It was on the way, merely a slight detour to the east. Joyce is hanging back with Bunny, helping the traumatized girl move through the underbrush and keeping her moving in the same direction as the rest of the group.
Perception checks from everyone, Christine gets a +1 bonus due to flying overhead, though she has to peer through the canopy.
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Post by DataNinja on May 15, 2018 4:25:36 GMT
It's at once the most terrifying and exhilarating experience that she's ever had... okay, not quite the most terrifying - nothing could be, after what they'd experienced in the last Vault, but certainly up there. Around her is emptiness, with only the powerful wings of the beast she rides keeping her from flying off (or, more logically, careening to the ground). Despite never having done this before, there's a familiarity in it, guiding the Pokémon, shifting her weight so as to not fall off. Which is at once both a blessing and a curse. Good, because it means she doesn't have to worry too much about it... bad, because it does not allow her to distract herself with figuring things out, and instead is able to cast her gaze around the land. She wouldn't admit it, but much of the flight is spent with her eyes closed, trusting her dragon to know where to go, only briefly opening them to scan the land, and to make sure her companions are in sight. A good part of her is screaming at the other part asking why she's doing this again... Perception: 8
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Apr 26, 2024 16:28:04 GMT
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Post by Robot on May 15, 2018 23:59:55 GMT
Cecil shields his eyes to look up at Christine circling them atop her new dragon. Maybe the memory engrams weren't so bad after all? Admittedly he was a bit pissed that she'd done it anyway after Amber's emotional withdrawal and his own degrees of fuckery, but watching her cut loose like that was a little nice. He thought about how things might look from up there and shuddered internally. Hadn't much cared for ladders or heights in the vault and those weren't long falls at all, his stomach rolled a little as he turned his attention back to the landscape.
5L5cybB03d63d6
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Post by Slytherclaw on May 17, 2018 0:19:33 GMT
Amber walks slowly below, peering up at Christine with no small amount of envy every few dozen miles. "I want one," Amber comments quietly to Cecil, squinting up at one point. "Can we all have one?"
tmYpbI9L5d6 Perception5d6
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Apr 26, 2024 16:28:04 GMT
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Post by Robot on May 18, 2018 11:45:41 GMT
"I think I can manage a breeding pair outta what we've caught so far. I'm good though, don't want to be that high." Cecil shuddered and made a small disgusted noise. "For how long she's kept it, I'd say there's probably not much doing for getting one full sized like that."
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Post by Lockdown on May 20, 2018 0:42:38 GMT
Kat is looking drawn and wary as the group leaves the safety of the walls. After an hour of walking, she recalls her mon and looks brightly at the group. "I'm going to go scout ahead okay?" Without waiting for an answer, she darts off into the underbrush, and is quickly lost to sight.
From above, Christine can see a gap in the treeline that seems to indicate a large area without any kind of foliage. Probably a good indicator that there's a quarry or some other sort of structure that would prevent tree growth.
Cecil, looking around you notice that you're all walking on a natural path that appears to have small chunks of asphalt and concrete that indicate it was once a road of some kind.
Amber, as you walk along you notice that there are odd scars on some of the trees and even on the ground. A few areas of exposed soil have a somewhat glassy look to them. There also seems to be a dearth of insect pokemon and even flying pokemon that you'd found were relatively prevalent in these woodlands. While the jalopy usually meant that they hid as you passed, you'd still seen signs of their presence in passing. While there are some indications that such mon frequent the area, it is much lighter than you'd seen on the way to Vault 116.
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Post by DataNinja on May 20, 2018 3:30:45 GMT
Shortly after Christine spots the clearing - and double checking that that's really the only thing of interest - she gently guides Clarion down towards where the rest of the group is, before dismounting. There's a mixed feeling there, as while she's very much glad to have solid ground beneath her... a small part of her loved the feeling of up there, as if above all worry and cares. It was a different experience.
"So," she says, a little bit unsteadily, "that was an experience. Uh, anyways, over in about that direction," she points, "I saw a clearing that looks like it might be where we want to go. Didn't investigate, though, because if I got too far away, I'd worry about not being able to find you guys again. Or not being able to be here if there was a problem."
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on May 20, 2018 12:11:06 GMT
"Quarry would've had a major roadway to and from, looks like this had two lanes once." Cecil grunts softly in reply. His dark eyes roamed Christine with calculated concern, but not finding any apparent injury his posture slackened. Nothing was wrong, because she hadn't fallen.
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Post by Slytherclaw on May 20, 2018 16:31:38 GMT
Amber frowns, concentration fading away from the group as she notices some oddness. She hesitates, slowing, and takes a few steps to the nearest puddle of shiny soil. "What is..." She trails off, attention split between kneeling down to look at the glassy looking spots and looking around as the back of her neck prickles with unease. Where are all of the...well, everything?
7s3Sfoe96d6 Tech Edu
"Cecil...?"6d6
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Apr 26, 2024 16:28:04 GMT
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Post by Robot on May 20, 2018 22:54:16 GMT
"Yeah?" Cecil steps up alongside Amber, eying what's got her concerned before prodding it with the toe of his boot. Wasn't tar, wrong color. Soil wasn't really sandy enough for it to be actual glass, and that didn't explain the markings on the trees. A resin maybe? "The fuck?" He wracked his brains alongside hers.
cl2guRH36d6 Gen Edu6d6
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Post by Seya on May 20, 2018 23:00:37 GMT
Kat takes a moment to clear her head-- and to sort out the little bit of panic boring a hole in her chest. With a scowl she looks back at the tracks she'd left behind her, and shakes her head minutely at the way she'd been acting since leaving Purewater. The group was trusting her to lead them around and guide them on the surface, weren't they? So why was she faltering at every step?
She squeezes the bridge of her nose until it hurts. Some guide, huh. Information about the area and survival instincts she'd been brought up with were somewhere lost within her head, it seemed. Worse yet, she feels like she's meant to remember something important about the quarries out this way... but nothing.
"Come on," she hisses to herself under her breath, steadying her nerves and listening to the others continue on not too far away. "We ain't got time for this, Kat. Smarten up and make their faith in you worthwhile."
Easier said than done.
Best she actually get scouting.
aQMiwL1e2d6 Perception and 5d6 Survival (looking for tracks, anything out of the ordinary)
2d6·5d6
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Post by Lockdown on May 21, 2018 0:22:57 GMT
Cecil and Amber prod at the glassy ground. The patterns match up with the few times that Amber had been forced to help ground power lines into blocks of dirt when the Vault was being expanded once years ago, one of the main trunks had come loose and they'd had to find some way to safely ground it before they could reach the cutoff switch for that section. The glassed dirt had been fascinating at the time, fused particles of sand and clay creating a unique sort of sculpture... before it'd been destroyed in order to make room for the expansion of the Vault.
Cecil is digging up memories that aren't his, but he's faintly recalling seeing a forest in the aftermath of a massive lightning storm, out east where such things were more common. There were dozens of trees that had had similar scarring, though more often fresh and jagged, here there was some new growth around shattered limbs or blasted trunks. Ideal nesting areas for many insect pokemon that seem to have gone unused for some reason...
Kat is noticing that there's a severe dearth of insect pokemon here in an area where they'd have ideal habitats. Not only that but there's maybe one or two nests that speak to the presence of flying type pokemon, and even then they seem to be abandoned. She barely makes note of some recent tracks, boot prints, hidden among the clutter of the leaf litter. They appear to be headed towards the quarry. She can't tell how many there are.
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on May 21, 2018 1:10:22 GMT
"Almost seems too frequent and recurring to be natural, but it's definitely lightning scoring. Didn't realize the soil here had enough silicates in it to glass, and the climate isn't right on this side of the mountains for thunderstorms of a magnitude for this. Might be territorial markings." Cecil considered for a moment, running his hand along the bandolier of Pokeballs. Yeah, Fink would be a better bet. He let the gator out.
"Christine, you're grounded until we're out of the area. Too visible up there. Let's move on the quarry. Kat, we'll take to the front. Use Ground Pokemon if you got'em."
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Post by DataNinja on May 21, 2018 3:46:01 GMT
"I'll stick nearby, yeah," Christine says, looking at the glassed earth warily after Cecil's explanation, "but," she adds in a mock-serious tone, "don't just go think you can just go about bossing me around, okay? Don't want to let it get to your head."
"Besides," she admits, "I'm just as happy to have my feet on the ground. It was a different experience up there, but I'm glad to be on solid ground to let things settle for a bit..."
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Post by Seya on May 21, 2018 14:14:02 GMT
Kat hears Cecil's orders just as she steps through the brush in returning to the group, and wrinkles her nose as them. Not at the plan itself--she'd been intending to take the lead anyways, as always--but that he'd try and tell her what to do after...
She grinds down on the annoyance and anger and hurt, pushing them away for the time being. She'd have to take it out on something later.
She shrugs and pushes ahead without looking at him, releasing her new gligar, Demon. "Saw tracks up ahead. Seems ta be a lot of 'em, But there ain't many wild 'mon around, and that's got me on edge. This should be a perfect haven for lots've little ones..."
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Post by Slytherclaw on May 22, 2018 0:35:00 GMT
Amber will take a moment to dig out the glass bit from the ground, frowning down at it, and slide it into one of her pockets. She'll also pull a ball from her pocket after careful consideration, and release Topaz. "Keep an eye out," She'll mutter, flashing the glass at the small electric pokemon, before picking him up to give him a perch on her shoulder.
"I've got that cubone..." She'll say to Cecil. "But I haven't really...I don't trust her yet. We haven't bonded. I'd feel safer with Topaz at my back."
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Post by Lockdown on May 25, 2018 0:34:51 GMT
The group begins to advance towards the direction that Christine had indicated. The trees are beginning to thin out some, and there's remnants of an old metal sign, covered in ivy so thickly that only the faded "rry" near the edge of one end can be seen. There's a crumbled and overgrown ruin of what may have been a small office building at one point, spots charred and the entire place overgrown as well. The elements have obviously not been kind to this place. Finally, a massive pit yawns out, with carved ramps leading down into the depths. It's a massive yawning expanse, and a very faint trickle of thin white smoke is coming from what appears to be a fire near one of the tunnels.
At some point someone has apparently tried to make this place habitable, there are mid-sized caves, more than large enough for three people to walk into with their arms spread out and fingers touching. The smoke is coming from a tunnel very near the bottom, which is located very close to a shallow pool of clear water.
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Post by Seya on May 25, 2018 21:09:06 GMT
There was something vaguely familiar about this place to Kat-- had her father taken her here once? Had she seen photos of this place, perhaps? The itching at the back of her mind was beginning to drive her up the metaphorical wall, that chastising second voice in her mind spitting out Don't forget, kitty-Kat, but... nada.
"Didn't really 'spect to be alone here, I guess," she mumbles to Cecil. "Places like this are popular stops for just about anyone willin' to get away from the worst of the wilds for a night or so. Let's see, then." She touches the handle of her sledgehammer gently, watching the path ahead of her as she begins to pick her way down towards the cave with the smoke.
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Post by DataNinja on May 25, 2018 21:24:55 GMT
"Wait..." Christine says, gesturing after Kat. "Shouldn't we wait a little, and just watch the area some, to see what's going on if we can? Rather than just rushing in blindly to who-knows-what?"
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