<castfromhp> Okay! It's not too long after your adventure at the oasis! You've found time to rest up, take a bath, and get a fresh change of clothes, so now it's obviously time to go back out in the desert and get dirty digging for fossils, right?
<castfromhp> Everyone went their separate ways at the Pokemon center, so you find yourself alone for the moment, Dann.
* Dann- feels his phone buzz in his pocket and pulls it out to check. On the screen he sees a reminder "CALL ASTRID. ADVENTURE TIME."
<Dann-> He tries to remember when he wrote this, but gives up and gives Astrid a call.
<castfromhp> "Hey!" Astrid picks up after a few rings. You hear the gentle coos of a Xatu in the background.
<Dann-> "Heya! My phone just reminded me to call you. Apparently we're supposed to go on an adventure. Which makes me think I made some promises I don't remember last night. Any interest?"
<castfromhp> "Always down to adventure. Got anything cool in mind?"
<Dann-> "Well I do know this old quarry outside of town that might be fun to explore. Lots of unstable tunnels and possible fossil hiding places. Probably mildly dangerous."
<Dann-> He adds the last detail as if it's a good thing.
<castfromhp> "Fighting ancient terrors beneath the earth dangerous? Or rocks fall everyone dies dangerous?"
<Dann-> "Depends how deeply we delve. And how greedily."
<castfromhp> "Just sayin', I'm real jealous you guys got to fight a giant Magcargo in the tunnels 'neath Snowberry. And I missed the Steelix bugpocalypse too!"
<castfromhp> "Anyway, where we meetin'? And who else is along for the ride?"
<Dann-> "Well I could always ask Zehir to pose as our stand-in ancient terror. Let's meet at the northeast corner of town."
<Dann-> "I'll text some other peeps to see if we have company."
<castfromhp> "Cool beans. I'll DPS, and the way you took that hyperbeam the other day, I guess you're the tank. So try to grab some heals, yeah? See ya there."
<Dann-> "Sounds good." He says with a chuckle, as he hangs up.
* Dann- fires off a group text to his team, as well as Sandy and Robin: [Anyone wanna go explore a treacherous quarry outside of town? Astrid says we still need a support. And maybe another tank. Northeast corner of town in an hour if you're interested!]
<Dann-> He then heads to the PC to change his team up a bit before heading to a couple stores for some supplies.
<Dann-> An hour later, he's at the northeast side of town, sparring against Nathan with his shovel.
<castfromhp> Astrid is waiting there already too, Hypatia floating cheerily next to her.
<Adrienne> [Tank??]
<Dann-> [Close enough! See you there.]
<castfromhp> [sorry got roped into helping researchers with some gem and rock stuff as an apology for trespassing >_< wish I could make it!] Sandy replies.
* Adrienne checks her astounding lack of anything to do, and decides to head on over to go with Dann and Astrid, after swapping around her team.
<Dann-> "Well," Dann starts to say to Astrid, "couldn't get Lucian for healing. But Nathan can handle a bit of that."
<Dann-> Nathan places hands near each other and pulses a warm, faint light between them to demonstrate (Heal Pulse).
<castfromhp> "Good 'nuff." Astrid is sharpening her short sword when she sees Adrienne and waves her over with it.
<Dann-> "But I did find Adrienne. Maybe a secondary tank? Or a jack-of-all-trades kinda thing?"
<Adrienne> "What the hell do you mean by tank?"
* Dann- looks to Astrid.
<castfromhp> "Isn't she the debuffer?" Astrid taps her sword against her pant leg, thinking.
* Dann- snaps his fingers in recognition. "Oh yeah! That's it." He looks at Adrienne. "I think tank just means I'm going to get hit a lot. Ideally so that you all don't have to."
<Adrienne> "If you two are just going to make up words, I'm leaving."
<castfromhp> "Oh c'mon we went over party roles when we first met. Lucian gets it, we shoulda got him too."
<Dann-> "Can't have a proper adventure without a balanced party, after all."
<Adrienne> "I don't really remember that conversation, it was a while ago and I didn't commit any of it to memory."
<castfromhp> "Ouch. Cold." Astrid sheathes her sword. "Alright, let's get goin' then."
<Dann-> "Well, all you really gotta do is hex things while Astrid beats 'em up."
<Dann-> "Me? I'll just get beaten up. Plan? Plan."
* Dann- recalls Nathan, and 'sheathes' his shovel before giving Adrienne a grin. Not a sarcastic one, just excited.
<castfromhp> Astrid flashes a thumbs up as she starts off toward the desert, Hypatia following close behind. "C'mon, lead the way."
* Dann- leads the trio and their pokemon along the route he's taken many times to the abandoned quarry.
* Adrienne adjusts her hat. Even if it is boiling hot, she does not want to go without it. Ugh, blue hair. She follows along with the others.
<castfromhp> One trek across the desert later, you approach the basin where the old quarry can be found! You can just barely make out bits of what used to be a small outpost with a few modest buildings, but the frequent sandstorms have eroded them to nearly nothing over the years.
<castfromhp> Tunnels into the cliffsides show the scale of the operation that used to be here, but many of them are now blocked out with wooden barricades adorned with signs warning of cave-ins and instability.
<Dann-> "Here we are!" Dann announces, before letting Winston out to see their old stomping grounds.
<Adrienne> "This place looks depressing."
<castfromhp> Winston prances around happily at the familiar site.
<castfromhp> "Nah, this place looks like HISTORY. Shame it's so worn down now, huh?"
<castfromhp> Astrid scratches at her head, then looks for a path to start down into the basin.
<Dann-> "It may be worn down, but there's a lot here to explore. There a still a lot of paths I haven't tried."
* Dann- finds a familiar ledge to start from and leads the way into the basin.
* Adrienne stands back and takes a good look around, plotting out a course. After a few seconds, she uses her nature and parkour skills to try and clown the other two.
<castfromhp> "Damn, you're good." Astrid hops off the path Dann's using and starts to follow you down, but she's not quite as nimble. Once down in the basin, you find yourselves face to face with a tall slab of rock. Its shape suggests it might have one day been a monument or statue, but it's too eroded away to tell now what it's supposed to be.
* Dann- arrives shortly after the other two and looks up at the slab. "I forget how good you both are at this."
<castfromhp> Past that, you find tunnels leading into the quarry. Dann, you've already explored the ones at ground level through and through, apart from the ones blocked off, but with a bit of climbing you can reach a few even you haven't had the time to explore.
* Dann- points up at some of the higher entrances. "Most of those are completely new to me, so I vote we start there."
<Adrienne> "Anything on ground level?"
<castfromhp> "That's not as fun, is it? I bet everyone's scoured those already 'cause they're easy." Astrid says.
* Dann- shrugs and nods. "Pretty much."
<Adrienne> "Point taken."
<Adrienne> "Y'all have climbing gear?"
<castfromhp> "Always." Astrid says, setting down her bag and pulling out rope and other tools from it.
<Adrienne> "Cool, let's get to exploring." Adrienne has her gear too, and well, sets up the stuff to start cave spleunking.
<castfromhp> You all quickly get up to the upper level of tunnel entrances. "Alright Dann, where to?" Astrid stops and waits.
* Dann- wipes his brow and scans the assorted entrances for a moment. "There, there, annnnd, there." He points at three crumbling entrances out of the assorted set.
<Dann-> "Those are ones I definitely haven't tried. Either of you feeling lucky?"
<castfromhp> "I think Ellis steals all my luck."
<Dann-> "That sounds like a handy class feature."
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* Dann- looks at Adrienne to see if she wants to make the choice.
* Adrienne picks a random one.
<Adrienne> 1d3
<CritSenpai> 1d3: 2 [1d3=2]
* Adrienne points to the second entrance. "Let's see what's in there."
<castfromhp> "Okay!" Astrid dashes ahead, like the irresponsible DPS she is. Hypatia follows along, lighting the way into the dark tunnels.
<Dann-> How big is this particular entrance?
* Adrienne follows after Astrid, easily keeping up. She juggles a flashlight, a cleanse tag, and a pokeball.
<castfromhp> "Hey, there's a warning sign about cave-ins on the floor here, but it looks pretty old. If no one's thought it important enough to fix, it can't be that dangerous, right?"
<castfromhp> The entrances go from biggest to smallest from left to right.
<Adrienne> "I'm pretty sure that's not how that works."
<Dann-> What's the largest size category that could fit in our tunnel?
<castfromhp> The entrance would be snug for a Large size Pokemon, but the tunnels narrow a bit as you go in. These tunnels were designed for humans and similar size Pokemon, it seems.
* Dann- laughs and breaks into a jog to keep up. He calls out Garnet to accompany him as a secondary tank.
<castfromhp> It's clear as soon as you make it in why the warning sign was there. There appears to be one long shaft leading straight and somewhat downwards and a lot of side tunnels. Half of them are blocked off, either by man-made barricades or by piles of rubble.
<castfromhp> Roll survival to navigate through the labyrithine tunnels~
<Adrienne> 6d6+1 I'm good at this, I swear
<CritSenpai> I'm good at this, I swear: 22 [6d6=6,1,2,4,2,6]
<Dann-> 3d6
<CritSenpai> 3d6: 8 [3d6=3,4,1]
<castfromhp> Dann, you manage to find some relatively safe looking tunnels, but as you're looking Adrienne realizes that one of the tunnels partially blocked by debris is actually a lot safer looking than it first appeared. It wouldn't be much work to clear out the debris either.
<Adrienne> "Let's try to avoid getting smashed by rocks."
* Dann- calls out Nathan to help with clearing the debris (telekinetically or otherwise).
<Dann-> "We should probably avoid yelling too, if we can help it." Dann adds.
* Adrienne sends Arthur out to help clear the debris, since he's stronger. It's not like Adrienne is standing back and doing nother, either.
<castfromhp> "Aw, but what's the fun if we don't get caught in a cave in and have to find a way out the other side?" Astrid starts moving some debris by hand and calls out her Zweilous as well.
<Adrienne> "Getting stuck in a cave in isn't really my idea of fun."
<castfromhp> With you and your Pokemon combined, you quickly clear out the tunnel. As you dug further into the rubble, you started to find bits and pieces of crystal as well. The walls further in are gleaming and sparkling as your lights shine their way.
<Dann-> "We may have left that part out of the description of this adventure posting."
* Dann- gets an excited gleam in his eye and hurries towards to the sparkles.
<castfromhp> Astrid follows quickly behind. You dash towards the shinies and find yourself in a large cavern dotted with crystals. Most of them are quartz or other common crystals, but you spy some Shards among them as well.
<castfromhp> (feel free to use this for fluffing your dowsing for the week :V)
<Dann-> (hurray we actually have a fluff for it for once)
<Dann-> (been a while, at least)
* Adrienne busts out Dann's dowsing rods, since she's been using the hell out of them.
<Adrienne> 21d6 Dowsing
<CritSenpai> Dowsing: 79 [21d6=6,6,4,5,5,3,6,3,3,4,1,4,5,4,6,6,3,1,1,1,2]
<Adrienne> 6d6
<CritSenpai> 6d6: 25 [6d6=6,4,5,1,5,4]
<castfromhp> "Treasure? Damn I wish I knew what was valuable here." Astrid experimentally taps at some rocks with her sheathed sword.
<Adrienne> 1d7
<CritSenpai> 1d7: 4 [1d7=4]
<Dann-> 4d6 Dowse city
<CritSenpai> Dowse city: 17 [4d6=4,6,6,1]
<Dann-> 2d6
<CritSenpai> 2d6: 11 [2d6=5,6]
<Adrienne> In short order, Adrienne is putting away a small armful of unearthed shards, looking pleased with her catch. She whistles a pop song she recently heard.
<Dann-> 1d6
<CritSenpai> 1d6: 6 [1d6=6]
<Dann-> 1d6 pls
<CritSenpai> pls: 3 [1d6=3]
<castfromhp> "You two sure look like experts at least." Astrid decides to just wait as the pair of you work.
<Dann-> As he and Adrienne get their dowse on, Dann scans the assorted crystals around the cavern. Anything more eye-catching than quartz?
<castfromhp> Adrienne, as you're digging into the side of the cave, part of the wall crumbles away, and you find what appears at first to be a HUGE red shard...but then you realize it must be part of a Pokemon. An aged miner's helmet falls out of the crumbling wall as well, clattering to the ground.
<Dann-> 6d6 Shard type
<CritSenpai> Shard type: 20 [6d6=2,1,4,4,6,3]
<Adrienne> "You can use these things for a lot. I prep some shards daily for uh, basically grenade work."
<castfromhp> There's a large hole ripped into it, the metal shredded as if a spiral drill had cut along the side.
<Adrienne> "Huh, what's this..."
<castfromhp> More of the wall falls away, revealing a slumbering Probopass.
<Adrienne> "Cool."
<Dann-> "Oh. Huh."
* Adrienne takes out a great ball and contemplates the Probopass.
<castfromhp> "Whoa, really cool." Astrid pushes her way in closer to get a good look. She looks carefully over its mini-noses and tugs a bit at its stache.
<castfromhp> "Hey, hey, don't do that! Least, not yet."
<Adrienne> "I'm not, I'm just thinking about it."
<castfromhp> "This one must be -old-. Damn." Astrid says as she appraises the pokemon with an impressed look on her face.
<Adrienne> "How old do you figure?"
<castfromhp> "Probably as old as the first settlement here, I'd wager." Astrid says, using a pocket flashlight and a magnifying glass to examine it more closely.
<Adrienne> "How can you tell?"
<castfromhp> She then straightens up suddenly, looking at the two of you with an appraising look. "...Hey, wanna do something secret and cool and maybe kinda sorta dangerous?" She grins.
<Adrienne> "... Depends."
<Dann-> "...yes."
<castfromhp> "With some rock types you can look at missing chunks of their bodies like this," Astrid points at the Probopass's side, where a similar mark to the one on the helmet is, like a drill grazed it, "and see the layers of stone from them growing and collecting the material around them."
<castfromhp> "Anyway, you ever been in a Pokemon's dream?" Astrid grins wider. "...'course you haven't, but you wanna try?"
<Adrienne> "Uhhh...?"
<Adrienne> "Wanna explain?"
<Dann-> "I suppose that is one way to potentially find ancient terrors."
<castfromhp> "I'm actually a Dream Diver for a society of historians back in Dahlia. They look for realllly old Pokemon, then peek into their dreams to find out shit about the past that you can't do with just artifacts and ruins. It's all hush hush and stuff, but I'm actually 'sposed to be recruitin' help too. We're kinda short-handed, to be honest."
<castfromhp> "Soo, you game?"
* Adrienne opens her mouth to call bullshit, then stops once she realizes the glaring hypocrasy behind her snap reaction.
* Dann- cocks his head to the side. "I had no idea that was a thing. So I guess the hush hush was working."
<Adrienne> "Sure."
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<Dann-> "But sure, why not? I hope a Garchomp doesn't find and eat us during."
<castfromhp> "Awesome! I came over this way for the Steelix, actually, but uh, you two know what happened with that. This is a pretty cool find. Guess my boss can't be too mad now."
<castfromhp> Astrid takes out two Poke Balls, releasing a Xatu and a Musharna. "Hmmm, I bet I can get Socrates to make enough mist for all of us and one Pokemon each."
* Dann- glances around apprehensively after his comment. "Should we, uh, leave some pokemon out to guard us?"
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<castfromhp> "Probably a good idea." Astrid releases her Zweilous, who cuddles up next to Hypatia.
<Dann-> How big is the cavern now that it opened up a bit?
<Dann-> Guessing not quite Zehir-sized yet?
<castfromhp> Not quite.
<Adrienne> "Hm..." Adrienne decides to first make some food, before releasing Balisarda.
<Dann-> "Does it matter what kind of pokemon we bring with? Do psychics have any weird interactions?"
<Adrienne> "Alright, you. Guard my body while I have weird dream adventures." She tosses the food over to appease the Hoendge.
<castfromhp> "Most anything'll do. Some Dark Types like Zweilous don't play nice with the dream world though." Astrid gives her two-headed dragon a pat. "Sorry~"
<castfromhp> It's a pat on each head of course.
<Adrienne> "How do I bring one of my pokemon into the dream thing?"
<castfromhp> "Just let them out. You'll see. Socrates there will funnel us some dream mist," Astrid gestures to the Musharna, "then Crito helps us link our minds and keep the dream stable as we immerse ourselves." She gestures to the Xatu now.
* Adrienne pops out Morgan. "Alright."
* Dann- lets out Nathan and Gurren.
<castfromhp> "Who's going in from you guys?"
<Dann-> "Nate, we're gonna try a different version of getting into each other's heads, I think. Gurren, keep us safe. Or if the cave starts collapsing, uh, wake us up."
* Dann- thumbs in Nathan's direction.
<Adrienne> "I'm bringing in Morgan, Balisarda's gonna be guarding." She points out each one in turn.
<castfromhp> "Cool, let's go." Astrid nods to Socrates, who starts exhaling a large cloud of dream mist which funnels into small tendrils that head for your faces. "Ah, not quite enough for a Pokemon for each of us - s'okay, I'll go in without one." The mist rushes into your mouth and nose, and the world starts to look brighter, everything in your field of vision more colorful and gleaming with iridescence. And then suddenly, you fall as
<castfromhp> leep.
<castfromhp> "All in!" You hear a woman's voice call out. "Bold move Liza. Alright, call or raise." A slow drawl replies. The voices sound muddled. Everything is dark and kinda fuzzy and formless right now.
<Adrienne> "This sounds like poker," Adrienne notes aloud. Does she? Doesn't she? Dreams are weird.
* Dann- attempts to look around. He also tries to ping Nathan's telepathy, if that's possible in here.
<castfromhp> "Damn right it is. Where's your head been the last twenty minutes?" The world around you starts to come into focus. Sorta. You find yourselves in a dusty saloon at a poker table. Everything has a slight glow to it, and out of the corner of your eyes you swear something is always changing. You look one way and see a bar lined with patrons hefting large mugs of beer. You look away and back, and it's half empty. A clock hangs f
<castfromhp> rom the wall, but no matter how much you focus you can't make out the time.
<castfromhp> A gruff looking man sits across from you, Adrienne, and taps his fingers impatiently. "Call or raise?" There's a tall stack of chips in front of you. To your right, a woman wearing a miner's helmet smokes as a Nosepass bounces in anticipation at her side. Dann, you're to Adrienne's left.
<castfromhp> "Or fold. If yer a chickenshit." The man sniggers.
* Dann- discretely checks his cards.
<castfromhp> Pocket rockets, Dann. Clubs and spades. On the table is another Ace, a five, and a Jack, all diamonds.
* Adrienne blinks a few times and checks her hand.
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<castfromhp> Garbage. Two of spades and three of hearts. God knows why you're still in at the river, but hey dreams are weird.
<Adrienne> "Fold." She sets down her hand, facedown.
<castfromhp> The man looks to you now, Dann.
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* Dann- tosses some coins into the pot. "Call."
<castfromhp> "Call." The man says with a grin, pushing in his chips as well. "Alright, show 'em!" Liza grumbles and flips her cards, showing a 5 and 6, off suit. The man burts out laughing as he flips his cards, an ace of spades and ace of clubs. "Every time, Liza. Not a soul here don't know when yer bluffin'."
* Adrienne flips her garbage hand.
* Dann- flips his over as well.
<castfromhp> Adrienne, it's a king and queen of diamonds. The man gives you a look. "What the hell didya think she had?" He jerks a thumb at Liza. Dann, you flip over a two of spades and three of hearts.
<castfromhp> Astrid walks by with a few mugs of beer. "On the house, they said." She gives the two of you a knowing look. "Nice place, ain't it?"
* Adrienne answers by way of a non-answer shrug. "Yeah, it's... nice."
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<castfromhp> Liza grumbles, banging on her helmet with balled up fists. "You win again, Lucky Ted." She dejectedly walks off toward the exit. The Nosepass follows along. As it does, you see the far wall of the saloon shimmer and shift.
* Adrienne gives Astrid and Dann a "so now what" glance, then jerks her head over to "Liza," hoping her question is clear.
<castfromhp> "Oh yeah," She leans in to stage whisper to you two, "the further we are from the pokemon havin' the dream, the less stable it becomes. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it can get kinda trippy."
<castfromhp> The bartender is now a Cacturne. You're not sure how they're managing to clean the glasses by scrubbing with their needled arms.
<castfromhp> Astrid looks over, then back with a shrug. "You learn how to filter what you see here. Though even when the dreamin' Pokemon's most lucid, you can't trust everything to be historically accurate."
* Adrienne stage whispers back. "Let's follow." She stands up from the table and follows the dream-Liza at a respectable distance. She also looks down at her own clothing. If she was dropped in a saloon, she might have a dream costume, or however that works.
* Dann- follows Adrienne, thinking to himself about whether he's heard the name Liza before in regard to Bitterbrush.
<castfromhp> Yup, you both and Astrid all have western-appropriate outfits. Fluff as you'd like.
<castfromhp> Astrid is dressed like a worker in the quarry, and fairly covered with dirt and grime to match.
<castfromhp> You two follow Liza and the Nosepass out into a small but busy mining outpost. Carts of crystals and iron are being pulled up the basin to the paths above. In the center of the square stands a large Tyrantrum statue with a wooden sign hanging from it: Tyrant's Quarry
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<Dann-> "So that's what that statue was."
<castfromhp> The grumpy miner woman is heading up towards the same path you took to get to the upper level tunnels in the basin. A fellow miner calls out to her as she passes. "Howdy Liza, back to work already?" She shakes her head in response. "Fossil huntin'." Her companion sighs and shakes his head as he continues on.
* Adrienne is dressed like a working lady in a western, if the lady's job was looking like someone's mental image of a gunslinger, complete with gun. "Oh hey, both of you like fossils. Wouldn't say it's much of a coincidence, considering the locale."
<castfromhp> "Yeah, some of the other Dream Divers keep Pokemon with a good memory or flair for artistry so they can reproduce what they see in the dream when they wake up." Astrid says, following along. Morgan and Nathan are following as well.
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* Dann- 's outfit honestly doesn't look all that different from his usual attire. Just minus some of the modern flares and conveniences. Nathan is wearing a cowboy hat.
* Dann- glances at his companion with a raised eyebrow. "Where on earth did you find that hat?"
<castfromhp> Liza climbs up a set of rope ladders leading to the tunnels above - a convenience that wasn't there in your time. At the top, she turns and notices you all following her. "...What, didya come to mock me too?" She walks off in a huff towards the largest of the three openings you considered.
* Dann- tries to say something, but she's already gone.
<Adrienne> "If I wanted to mock you I'd have said something at the saloon, instead of climbin' up this ladder."
* Adrienne whispers to Astrid. "I did not expect this from the dream. Justifying following the dreamer is a bit hard."
<castfromhp> She's already heading into the cave tunnels, only her lantern light visible now.
* Dann- looks after her with concern. "I have a bad feeling about this. But let's try to catch up to her."
<castfromhp> Astrid shrugs in response. "It's a dream! She isn't real! You learn to have fun with it. Does it bother you when you're dreamin' and people do things that make no sense?"
<castfromhp> "'Sides, it's not her dream. It's the Nosepass's."
<Adrienne> "No, but I don't remember my dreams."
<castfromhp> "How sad."
* Adrienne considers this, and follows the lady and her Probopass, jogging to catch up.
<Adrienne> "How is it sad?"
<castfromhp> "Dreams are fun. They're like adventures you can create for yourself, if you're good enough at stayin' lucid."
<Dann-> "I imagine this job of yours is good practice at that."
<castfromhp> The cave seems a lot smaller on the inside than it looks on the outside. It also starts to get extremely cold, extremely quickly. You have lanterns with you, or if you didn't before, they're suddenly hanging at your side. But regardless, the walls of the cave look like they're slowly warping and shifting, and when you're not looking directly at them they seem to close in.
<castfromhp> You hear Astrid shiver, but then if you look over she's now got a large very warm looking shawl draped over her.
<Dann-> Can we still see the Nosepass?
<castfromhp> Perception check!
<Adrienne> "Maybe I'll try lucid dreaming sometime soon."
<Adrienne> 2d6
<CritSenpai> 2d6: 11 [2d6=5,6]
<castfromhp> "I'll give you tips!"
<Adrienne> "Does having a Musharna help?"
<Dann-> 6d6
<CritSenpai> 6d6: 17 [6d6=4,2,5,1,3,2]
<castfromhp> "A bit of dream mist helps, yeah. Not too much."
<Adrienne> "I'll trade you some of my stuff for dream mist?"
<castfromhp> This part of the dream is definitely less stable. You've barely taken a few steps into the cavern, but you've already lost sight of the entrance. Every time you turn around, it looks a little different. Adrienne, you're totally lost, but Dann manages to catch sight of the Nosepass waddling its way towards a small tunnel hidden behind a stalagmite. It'd be hard to find even outside of the dream.
<Dann-> "That's a slippery slope, Adrienne."
<castfromhp> Astrid thinks. "Well, I'm ropin' you two into this already...We'll talk 'bout it, okay? It's not somethin' to be taken lightly."
<Adrienne> "Sure. Where the hell are we even going?"
<Dann-> "I wonder if this part is getting weird because the Nosepass got lost or separated."
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<castfromhp> "To fossils?" Astrid shrugs. "And somethin' scary I bet. This Nosepass is real nervous. You can tell by the way the cave's twistin' and turnin'."
<castfromhp> "Yeah, I bet you're on the right track there." Astrid says with a nod.
<Adrienne> "Full honesty, I'm just following Dann at this point. I can't make heads or tails of these tunnels."
<castfromhp> "Oh." Astrid blinks. "Shit, I lost track of it too."
<Dann-> "I think it slipped through that tiny tunnel up ahead." He hurries towards it, in case the dream decides to obscure it further.
* Adrienne follows Dann.
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<castfromhp> "Nice." You all slip into the tunnel, which feels like it gets smaller and smaller as you go. It opens up into a small cavern with spiky stone extrusions along the walls. A tunnel leads further in, but it's completely dark, the shadows around it dancing slightly. Liza is there with her Nosepass excitedly looking over something on the floor.
<castfromhp> "What a beauty, right?" Liza exclaims to her Pokemon. "Bet it's a Tyrunt jaw. Or a baby Aerodactyl!"
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* Dann- tenses up at this scene without really knowing why.
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* Adrienne adjusts her hat. "I'd actually like to see a baby Aerodactyl in person."
<castfromhp> Liza stands up holding a large fossilized jaw, then whirls around at the sound of your voice. "Huh? Oh, so you two are fossil lovers too? Sorry ab-" She's interrupted by a deafening roar! Roll Focus.
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<Adrienne> 2d6 I am bad at this too
<CritSenpai> I am bad at this too: 7 [2d6=2,5]
<Dann-> 2d6
<CritSenpai> 2d6: 11 [2d6=6,5]
<castfromhp> The cave shrinks at the sound of the roar, spiked walls closing in very, very close. A pair of red eyes appears in the tunnel ahead, and a monstrous hulk rushes in from the darkness, clad in obsidian armor. Adrienne, you find it extremely difficult to make out what's happening for a moment, like you're viewing the world through an old television while someone bats the antenna back and forth. Dann you're doing a little better
<castfromhp> , enough to tell that this creature has the rough outline of a Rhydon.
<castfromhp> The monster crashes into the Nosepass, sending it flying against the cave walls, where it ricochets violently before flopping on the ground. Initiatives!
<Dann-> Dann 10, Nathan 28
* Adrienne 21, Morgan 10.
<Dann-> "Nathan, cover me!" Critical Moment and binding Diamond Stance
<castfromhp> Astrid > Nathan > Adrienne > Rhydon?? > Morgan = Dann > Rhydon x2
<castfromhp> "Ho, now it gets fun!" Astrid says, grinning and drawing her sword. She leaps up and cuts at the Rhydon with a precise strike.
<castfromhp> 1d20 feint attack
<CritSenpai> feint attack: 15 [1d20=15]
<castfromhp> 6d4+25
<CritSenpai> 6d4+25: 39 [6d4=3,3,3,2,2,1]
<castfromhp> Nathan!
<castfromhp> "Remember, if you die in the dream, you die in real life! ...Just kidding." Astrid says with a wink.
<Adrienne> "That is really not funny."
<Dann-> Nathan bolts towards the towering creature, his blade arms glowing greener than usual as he lashes out.
<Dann-> 1d20 Leaf Blade
<CritSenpai> Leaf Blade: 14 [1d20=14]
<Dann-> 2d10+10+36
<CritSenpai> 2d10+10+36: 58 [2d10=5,7]
<Dann-> "Am I still the tank? Or do we have different classes in here?"
<castfromhp> The Rhydon monster shadow THING roars in anger, and Astrid quickly hops to the side, pressing against the cave wall. "Nope still you!" Adrienne!
<Dann-> "...crud."
* Adrienne mumbles strange arcane words at the shadow thing! Hex Maniac!
<castfromhp> The creature roars, looking past Nathan to his master. It reaches into the earth and pulls out a mass of rock that grows large obsidian spikes, then chucks it at Dann!
<castfromhp> 1d20
<CritSenpai> 1d20: 8 [1d20=8]
<castfromhp> AC 5
<castfromhp> 12d4+35 if that hits
<CritSenpai> if that hits: 68 [12d4=4,1,1,4,4,4,3,2,2,2,4,2]
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<castfromhp> Morgan!
* Dann- braces for the blow but is still almost knocked off his feet.
<Adrienne> "Get 'em, Morgan!" Morgan spits a stream of Scalding hot water at the thing!
<Adrienne> 1d20+1 vs AC 2
<CritSenpai> vs AC 2: 9 [1d20=8]
<castfromhp> Hits
<Adrienne> 10d4+19+1d10 special water damage
<CritSenpai> special water damage: 44 [10d4=1,1,1,1,2,4,1,1,3,2; 1d10=8]
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* Dann- picks up one of the rock chunks that smashed into him and moves over in front of the injured Nosepass, glancing back at it to see if it's conscious.
<castfromhp> The water melts off some of the shadow-y obsidian armor, revealing more of the Rhydon's form. The walls of the cave seem to relax, expanding and giving you more breathing room. The Nosepass is conscious but clearly too hurt to act right now.
<Dann-> He holds the rock chunk up in front of him. "Tanks use shields, right?" He mutters.
<Dann-> (and I ordered this turn so that's it)
<castfromhp> The Rhydon launches a barrage of rocks at Morgan.
<castfromhp> 1d20 rock blast
<CritSenpai> rock blast: 11 [1d20=11]
<castfromhp> 1d8 fivestrike
<CritSenpai> fivestrike: 1 [1d8=1]
<castfromhp> 5d4+35 if that hits
<CritSenpai> if that hits: 48 [5d4=3,3,2,4,1]
<castfromhp> Then it charges towards the Nosepass, but Dann's makeshift shield is in the way!
<castfromhp> 1d20 drill run
<CritSenpai> drill run: 13 [1d20=13]
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<castfromhp> The rock shield shatters, but you find yourself feeling the shock of the attack as well! Lose a tick of hit points
<Dann-> "I guess I asked for thi-" Dann says before the rock explodes and he falls on his back.
<castfromhp> Astrid hops up again and jabs at the Rhydon's face!
<castfromhp> 1d20 thief
<CritSenpai> thief: 5 [1d20=5]
<castfromhp> ...but misses!
<Dann-> "Nathan," Dann manages between coughs, "do a thing."
<Dann-> Critical Moment
<castfromhp> Nathan!
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<Dann-> Nathan leaps into the air and slashes, sending an invisible ripple of force towards the Rhydon!
<Dann-> 1d20 Psycho Cut
<CritSenpai> Psycho Cut: 12 [1d20=12]
<castfromhp> hits
<Dann-> 2d10+10+36
<CritSenpai> 2d10+10+36: 63 [2d10=10,7]
<castfromhp> 1d10
<CritSenpai> 1d10: 1 [1d10=1]
<castfromhp> Adrienne!
<Dann-> Oh hex, right
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<Adrienne> "Hey Astrid, if I dump one of my pester balls here, do I lose them in real life?"
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<Dann-> "Did pester balls exist back in this time?"
<castfromhp> "I haven't tried. It's hard to focus stuff you have into existence in here unless you're pretty close to it."
<castfromhp> (go ahead and pester ball if you'd like, but I have to figure out how consumables and DREAM ADVENTURES interact in the future :V)
* Adrienne reaches around to grab for one of her pester balls. Poison, if she can. She makes a lobbing motion and prays.
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<Adrienne> 1d20 vs AC 6
<CritSenpai> vs AC 6: 11 [1d20=11]
<Adrienne> (Item Mastery'd that)
<castfromhp> The Rhydon is poisoned!
<Adrienne> And as a followup, she keeps the Rhyhorn hexed. It loses 6 HP too!
<Adrienne> "Huh, that worked."
<castfromhp> Astrid claps. "Very good!"
<castfromhp> The Rhydon turns its attention to Dann again...
<castfromhp> 1d20 stomp
<CritSenpai> stomp: 17 [1d20=17]
<castfromhp> 7d4+35 and Flinched
<CritSenpai> and Flinched: 53 [7d4=2,4,2,3,1,4,2]
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<castfromhp> Morgan
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<Dann-> "AHH!" Dann yells as it stomps on him while he's lying on the ground.
<Dann-> "...can I tap out yet?" He murmurs deliriously.
<Adrienne> "Go for the kill!" Morgan bristles with saltwater and blasts the Rhyhorn!
<Adrienne> 1d20+1 vs AC 2
<CritSenpai> vs AC 2: 6 [1d20=5]
<castfromhp> hits
<Adrienne> 9d4+19+1d10 special water damage; 15d4+19+1d10 if the Rhyhorn is under half hp
<CritSenpai> special water damage: 48 [9d4=1,3,1,4,2,3,4,4,1; 1d10=6]; if the Rhyhorn is under half hp: 62 [15d4=3,2,4,1,2,2,3,2,1,3,4,1,3,1,3; 1d10=8]
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<castfromhp> The Rhydon is blasted with saltwater! It roars and flails and then...literally melts into a puddle with a trailing whimper. As it does, the chill leaves the room, and the spikes in the walls retract.
<castfromhp> The Nosepass gets up and looks around, confused, then hops up and down in glee. Liza, who was previously frozen in fear, gets up and straightens her helmet. "Gee, y'all saved my ass there. Thanks!"
<castfromhp> "Good tanking!" Astrid offers you a hand Dann.
<Dann-> "No problem..." Dann wheezes as he takes Astrid's hand. "And thanks."
<castfromhp> "It stops hurting once we wake up, don't worry."
<castfromhp> "Unless you die. Then you die in real life."
<Dann-> "I think I did the maximum amount of tanking I can currently muster even."
<Adrienne> "... I thought we don't die in real life if we die here."
<Dann-> "The dream mist giveth, and the dream mist taketh away?"
* Dann- turns to Liza. "Is your Nosepass ok?"
<castfromhp> "You really don't do well with jokes." Astrid laughs.
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* Adrienne gives Astrid a really :| look.
<castfromhp> The Nosepass nods in response, running up to you and nuzzling your leg. "Yeah! You three are some real great fighters, aren't ya? Why don't we ... take a look ... at this fossil together..." Liza's words begin to sound like they're coming from further and further away.
<castfromhp> The walls of the cave begin to shimmer and slowly break down, and you feel your consciousness slowly slip away as well.
<castfromhp> "Oops, time's up." You hear Astrid say, her voice sounding as if it were underwater. You see her doze off where she stands, then slowly fade into nothingness as she starts to fall over.
<Dann-> "That's...unsettling." Dann mentions as he also passes out.
* Adrienne says nothing as she passes out.
<castfromhp> You all wake up where you were, next to now a very contented looking sleeping Probopass. Your Pokemon are there as well, keeping watch. Astrid stretches. "Whoo, that's always a blast!"
* Dann- blinks a few times as he wakes up, and looks at the Probopass with concern. He stays silent for a bit.
* Adrienne shakes her head and sits up. "That was... unique."
<Adrienne> "Hey Dann, still feel like dying?"
<castfromhp> Astrid notices your expression, Dann. "...Yeah, it's like that sometimes. You live long enough, you get more than just happy memories rattling 'round in there."
<castfromhp> Dann, you feel awesome again. Definitely not at all like a Rhydon just stomped on you.
<Dann-> "I do feel better than I did in there. Do you think its trainer died? Is that were going to see if we hadn't intervened?"
<castfromhp> Astrid picks up the mining helmet off the ground, running a hand along the shredded metal. "...Probably."
<Adrienne> "Well, angry charging rhyhorn, a feeling of being lost... the helmet that fell out."
<Adrienne> "All signs point to something like that."
<castfromhp> "Wanna see if that fossil's still there? Mite be cool." Astrid tries to bring up something less glum.
* Dann- stands up and places a hand on the sleeping rockhead.
* Adrienne recalls Balisarda and Morgan. "Hey Dann, you want it on your team? I was still considering catching it."
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* Dann- looks at the Probopass for a moment, and then at Adrienne. "I don't know if it stayed down here out of mourning, or what...but I mostly just don't want it to have to be alone."
<Dann-> "I don't know if I'd have time to train him, but I'd want to spend time with him, give him a chance to do something other than be down here forever, ya know?"
* Adrienne shrugs, then takes her ball and taps the Probopass with the wrong end, intending to wake it up.
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<Dann-> "If you think you'd want to raise him, then I'd be happy with that too."
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<castfromhp> The Probopass slowly starts to stir awake, then turns away and cuddles against the wall, resisting wakefulness. It makes incomprehensible grinding sounds, quite reminiscent of a college student's mumbles when trying and failing to wake up for 8 AM class.
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* Adrienne snaps her fingers. "Oh good, it can hear me." She bothers it a bit more. "I know you're listening, what do you say to seeing something other than this cave? Maybe a bit of sun and exocit rock?"
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<castfromhp> It finally wakes up, reluctantly. It gives you a very, very weirded out look and seems to be ver conflicted. Well, as best as you can tell for something that can only emote with its eyes and mustache.
<castfromhp> *very
<Dann-> Does it seem to recognize us?
* Adrienne adjusts her glasses and maintains eye contact.
<castfromhp> Roll Poke Edu
<Dann-> 6d6 PokeEdu
<CritSenpai> PokeEdu: 26 [6d6=3,3,4,6,6,4]
<Adrienne> 4d6+2 AP
<CritSenpai> AP: 15 [4d6=1,1,5,6]
<castfromhp> You both think it probably does recognize you...and that that is very confusing to it right now.
* Adrienne points to Astrid. "It's her fault, she has a Musharna and we did weird dream things. We're not actually time travellers, or old rich people who bathed in virgin blood for eternal youth."
<Adrienne> "Don't worry, nothing's wrong with your head."
<Dann-> "Hey, big guy."
<castfromhp> It doesn't seem to understand all that shit you babbled about virgin blood and dreams.
<Dann-> "Uh, yeah, that's the quick version I guess. But basically, I think we know what happened to you." He leans down and carefully picks up the helmet.
<castfromhp> It magnet floats the helmet up onto its head. Er, the top of its head anyway. Since its whole body is head.
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* Dann- places a hand reassuringly on the smooth stone face.
<castfromhp> It looks down and almost seems to sigh.
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<Adrienne> "Uh... We went inside your dream just to look around, and it looked like you needed help?"
<Adrienne> "And then, we did it. Sucks about Liza."
* Adrienne is taking a stab in the dark.
<castfromhp> It just nods, looking lost and still confused.
<Dann-> "I'm sure it must have been very hard for you. And being down here alone for so long seems even harder."
<Adrienne> "We aren't from... back then?"
<Dann-> "You don't have to stay here though."
* Dann- pauses for a good bit before speaking again.
<Dann-> "I know we didn't know her very well, but I think Liza would want you to be happy."
* Adrienne jerks a thumb to Dann. "Plus, he likes fossils as much as she did, I'm pretty sure. But you'll be on my team, because I lost track of his roster."
<castfromhp> The Probopass thinks on it for a time, then slowly shifts itself out of the little hole it dug in the wall. An old, dusty apricorn ball falls out of a crevice from behind it and rolls to your feet.
<Dann-> "I'm sure Adrienne will let you look at fossils with me if you want though." Dann grins at Adrienne.
* Adrienne puts away the great ball, and crouches down to pick up the apricorn ball. "Makes sense that this is still around." She recalls the Probopass. "Huh, how does the normal six 'mon limit work in this situation?"
<castfromhp> (fuck don't ask me lol)
<Dann-> "There might be some kind of registration switch you have to do? Not sure if they had global registration of pokemon back then or not."
<castfromhp> The Probopass is zwoooped back up into the ball! There's a little star carved into the surface of the crudely made Heavy Ball you're now holding.
<Dann-> "But I'm sure you can get him assigned to you in the modern system."
<Adrienne> "We can figure it out later." She puts the ball away after dusting it off a bit.
<Adrienne> "Anywho, let's try and find that fossil before Astrid dies of secondhand embarrassment."
<castfromhp> "Too late." Astrid feigns falling over dead.
<Dann-> "Yeah, sorry to keep you Astrid. But I'm glad he doesn't have to wallow here forever."
<castfromhp> "Nah, s'okay." Astrid puts on a small smile. "I was sorta like that at first with all the old pokemon I ran into. Guess I got jaded over time though. You see enough like that, and..." She shrugs.
<castfromhp> "Anyway, fossil time?"
<Adrienne> "Sure."
* Dann- wipes his eye a bit and straightens up. "Yeah, let's check it out."
<castfromhp> Astrid leads the way to the left-most cavern outside. As you might have expected, it's nowhere near as cramped and confusing as it seemed in the dream. It's quite spacious and straightforward, actually, though the small tunnel Liza and the Nosepass took is still quite well hidden behind a broken stalagmite.
<castfromhp> "Bit nicer in the real world." She quips, crawling into the tunnel.
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<Adrienne> "Hopefully less Rhydon to stomp Dann's ribcage in," she says drly, following Astrid.
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<Dann-> "Please no stomp."
<castfromhp> The room you emerge in is quite familiar, though the tunnel leading in further is blocked off by a cave-in, and the ground here is cracked and covered with scattered rocky rubble.
<castfromhp> It doesn't take long to find the fossil Liza discovered here though - a large Tyrunt jaw, still pristinely preserved save for prominent crack.
<Dann-> "Oooh..." Dann stares in admiration.
<Adrienne> "Huh."
* Adrienne is not that much of a fossil appreciator.
<castfromhp> *one prominent crack
<castfromhp> "I take it that's a good specimen?" Astrid leans in to look.
* Dann- stoops down over the jaw and runs his hand across it.
<Dann-> "Yeah...yeah, that's a pretty good specimen."
<castfromhp> "Good! Looks like we all got somethin' we wanted out here then."
<Dann-> He picks it up gingerly, making sure it isn't going to break in two, and holds it up for the other two to see.
* Adrienne leans in closer to look at it. "Honestly, it's not doing much for me."
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<castfromhp> "Shh, don't ruin it for him." Astrid pokes Adrienne in the ribs.
<Adrienne> "I was inviting him to explain."
<Dann-> "It's a Tyrunt's lower jaw, I believe."
<castfromhp> "Oh, you two did pretty well for your first time dream divin' by the by. Didn't throw up, didn't wake up screamin', didn't stay asleep for the rest of the day, didn't die in the dream and die in real life..." Astrid counts off a list of increasingly absurd misfortunes on her fingers.
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<Dann-> "You can tell from these two cute little teeth, see-" He stops, and looks pointedly at Astrid. "I'd say you should have warned us about that list...but then I guess it was an adventure. So ok."
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<Adrienne> "So which one were you?"
<castfromhp> "Aw, don't tell me you aren't good with jokes either."
<Dann-> "And I guess we totally did get to fight an 'ancient terror', right?" He adds with a grin.
<Dann-> "Or at least a relatively old, pseudo-terror."
<castfromhp> "Close enough, yeah."
<Dann-> "Dreams seem like a nice backup if the real world fails to produce suitable adventurous material."
* Dann- holds the fossil up close to his face, inspecting the surface. "You know, if not for this crack, I'd say this thing deserves a spot in the museum. It's almost flawless."
<castfromhp> Astrid fishes around in her pocket and pulls out a coin a dark bronze coin with a Xatu engraved on it. It seems to hold a light, rainbow shimmer as light dances across it. "Hold onto this. If you're ever in Dahlia and wanna do somethin' like this again, stop by a bar called the Xenial Xatu, show 'em this, and tell 'em I sent you."
<castfromhp> *-a coin
<Adrienne> "Xenial Xatu, got it." Adrienne takes the coin from Astrid and pockets it.
<castfromhp> "Alright, now let's get back to town. I'm starvin'." Astrid starts the climb out of the basin.
* Adrienne shows off on the way up, again.
* Dann- takes a thousand years to climb up because he holding a fragile fossil.