Group RP Pokemon: Evolution Quest (IC thread)

After several arguments between her body who had travelled two towns in the span of two days with no sleep and her mind's excitement over the new lead they had and the need to get things done as soon as possible, Xuehua physically collapsed on her inn bed before she could think much more, and promptly passed out.

 

Now that Blacky had gotten inside the lair, he started to walk down the corridor. All while mentally summing up what he got so far.

Okay, so we have a roughly Diglett-sized hole in that bush. It somehow can expand when it senses someone nearby. Although... can be suspicious when it opens up to invisible folks like that.

That said, Blacky stayed alert with a bow evoking normal Umbreon (from the shadow quest back in Keelford) ready in his paw. He couldn't let the lair's residents know that he's actually a swordsmon.

 

Soon, the Umbreon could see the end of this particular corridor. He wondered what the next room might hold...

(Sorry for the double post, but I need a continuation here. Or... should I make the dungeon up on the fly?)

 

While Blacky was having quite the adventure, Atelier was off in an adventure of his own - albeit in his dreams. He was dreaming about his strategies and reviewing which ones were best and which ones could be improved.

 

@WavePearl @122 Generation @ChocoChicken

(Sorry for the delay, folks. I've been busy with my freelancing gigs and cooking up the whole dungeon here. That said, one lengthy post coming up~)

Uh...

Turned out that the next room had four exits (including the one Blacky just came from) with one cloaked Clefable "guarding" each paths. Well, not really, considering none of them batted an eye on Blacky's sudden arrival. Not even the closest Clefable in a yellow cloak who was "guarding" the path he just came from.

Knowing Xuehua's most likely reflex upon seeing another Pokémon (or practically whoever who are not her allies) in a Dragon King's lair, Blacky decided to test the waters. Shooting an arrow to the green-cloaked Clef? It phased through them as if they were a ghost or something. Using Dark Pulse on the blue-cloaked Clef? Nope. Double Kicking the red-cloaked Clef? No damage taken even after the second kick. Simply tackling the yellow-cloaked Clef? Blacky himself phased through them and ended up making a rather embarrassing faceplant right there. Good thing it was his solo run tho. Nobody laughed at him, not even the Clefs.

Welp, okay...

Now that the Umbreon learned the hard way that none of these Clefs were attack-able, Blacky just had to try something else. He reclaimed his arrow and tapped the green Clef's shoulder. And much to his surprise, they actually talked!

"This way!" said the green Clef as soon as Blacky touched them. The catch? That's it. They didn't even react like "Woah! Who's there?" or anything. The other Clefs also said the same thing when Blacky tapped their shoulders. So he randomly went to the green Clef's path... only to find himself in a dead-end room with ten Lunatone trying to ambush him. Keyword: "trying", because all these Lunatone were practically befuddled at this sneaky intruder. They did sense someone entering the room but couldn't find whoever did it. And it's all thanks to Blacky's Wondrous Coat.

The Umbreon then sneakily exited the room in the middle of the chaotic confusion. From the previous room with the four holographic (?) Clefable from before, he tried the blue Clef's path next. Lo and behold, it turned out to be a treasure room with lots of money and jewels inside. That, and not to mention two legit treasure chests too.

(Does anyone need anything at this point? Or should I fill these chests with something handy for the next puzzle?)

 

(I think we'll be good on supplies for a while, but perhaps it would be a clever position to hide clues in.)

 

(You definitely have been busy! And yeah, if not supplies, you can go for the puzzle route)

 

(I really should thank Megaman Star Force 2 for this one. )

The two chests in this treasure room held one Mirror Shield for each chests. These shields would bounce any attacks directed at the user only once in combat. They could also bounce light off even in out-of-combat situations. Eh, I'll take 'em, Blacky thought, all while wondering what to do with them.

From the treasure room, Blacky went back to the four-way room. He had been looking everywhere for clues. Front, back, left, right, down, up... UP???

The Umbreon looked up to find the cavern's ceiling looking more like a night sky than a cavern's ceiling. That, and there was a red star shining up there. Okay, so I first came here from yellow Clef's way -- outside. Green Clef has a monster house, blue Clef has a treasure room, and now there's a red star up there.

There's only one way to find out.

He then made his way to the red Clef's path. Entering the hallway from there and eventually exiting it to find... another four-way room with another set of cloaked Clefable. It means the colored star on the cave's ceiling actually represented the Clefable that speaks the truth.

(I'm going to skip the Clefable rooms straight to the other puzzles in this lair. Every two rooms of this are followed by one room of another puzzle with the Moon DK's den at the very last room. So basically it's gonna be like this: Clef - Clef - puzzle 1 - Clef - Clef -puzzle 2 - Clef - Clef - Moon DK.)

 

After passing through the second Clefable room and claiming two more of the Mirror Shields in the second treasure room while at it, Blacky arrived at a whole different room. He saw some Bronzor-shaped mirrors, a relatively huge Lunala statue, and a moonlight-like, er, light coming from the "sky" (a.k.a. the night sky-like cave's ceiling) with a mirror right under it. All of them were basically arranged like this:

Spoiler: Puzzle

It took him awhile to figure out the gist of this puzzle: shift the mirrors in a way so that the light will bounce off them in succession and hit the Lunala statue. The Umbreon also tried to reflect the light with whatever swords and shields he owned while at it. Lo and behold, the Mirror Shield turned out to be the best thing for it.

Long story short, Blacky managed to rearrange the mirrors' reflections until the room became like this:

Spoiler: Solution

And thus, it opened the door onward. The blue Umbreon moved on, all while blissfully unaware that everything would be even more interesting on his next visit.

 

(The Mirror Shield and using it in Wind Waker. Good times…)

Whilst Blacky was hard at work exploring, Atelier had gotten out of bed for a late night snack. The inn was still in business although he could sense some uncertainty in the air when it was night. Did the Dragon King have some kind of effect on the night here? He decided to have a stew.

 

Two more Clefable rooms later, Blacky ended up in yet another different room. This time it only had a plate near the next room's doorway. A closer look revealed dots on the plate, waiting to be connected. Considering that the two Clefable rooms before it had Kubfu (RL: Ursa Minor) featured on their "sky", this room's "sky" should've had a constellation or something, right?

Hmm...

Curiosity ensued, Blacky looked up. And yep, there's a constellation up there. However, instead of Kubfu, the star pattern up there showed that of a Swanna (RL: Cygnus) instead. The Umbreon looked back and forth between the "sky" and the plate right in front of him before finally figuring it out: the dots on the plate had to be connected to match the one up there -- in this case, Swanna.

While tracing the lines on the plate, Blacky occasionally looked around. He anticipated an ambush like that one time back in the Earth Dragon King's music puzzle... but nope. No goblins, no rogue Lunatone, nothing. That was... weirdly... smooth, the Umbreon thought as the door to the next room opened. Oh well, whatever, he shrugged before proceeding to move on.

(That's right, no ambush here. All rogue monsters (?) are in the monster houses stationed at (some of) the Clef rooms' wrong paths.

Also, random question: why do you think I put Ursa Minor in the Clef rooms?)

Featured constellations

Kubfu - Ursa Minor

Spoiler

Swanna - Cygnus

Spoiler

 

('Monster house'. Should we expect a horde of Pokémon to fall from the ceiling? )

Atelier waved at Aine while he continued eating his stew. He was still half-asleep and was in no mood to read. His strategy-building could wait until Blacky got back. He sure hoped Blacky was okay and nothing bad happened.

 

“Oh, nothing much. I was wondering why you’re up this late,” Atelier said to Aine. The he had another bite of stew.

 

"I know how you feel. I need to get some sleep too," Atelier replied. He was just about finished his bowl and ready to go to bed once more.

 

@WavePearl @122 Generation @ChocoChicken

(Oh, yes. That's how I thought this would happen:

Sorry for the delay, by the way.)

Two more Clefable rooms with Sigilyph (RL: Crux) constellation later, Blacky arrived at a much larger room. Very fitting for a Dragon King's den. That, and there was a Nidoking (RL: Cepheus) constellation present on the "sky", indicating that a king was supposed to live in this room. The catch? The Dragon King himself wasn't there. Still in his little outing, maybe?

Only Nidoking, but no Nidoqueen (RL: Only Cepheus, but no Cassiopeia), Blacky thought as he looked upward. He quickly shrugged it off, though. Aight, Blacky, gotta get to work.

That said, the lunar Eeveelution proceeded to set up two of his Mega Runes of the Flower (including the one he used on the Water Dragon King the other night) somewhere hidden from the Dragon King's line of sight. He contemplated to use a third one but decided against it. And with that done, Blacky took a shortcut provided by the last Clef room just before the Dragon King's den to skedaddle.

(Mega Runes of the Flower remaining: 8)

=================================

Only when he reached the safety of the inn did Blacky take his Wondrous Coat out, rendering him visible again. He saw Aine and Atelier talking about something. What could it be, though?

Featured constellations

Sigilyph - Crux

Spoiler

Nidoking - Cepheus

Spoiler

Nidoqueen - Cassiopeia

Spoiler