Group RP Pokemon: Evolution Quest (IC thread)

(Now introducing: male minstrels. Was planning to save it for Kickenham arc but I just can't resist now... )

One of the minstrels, a male Sneasler who was seen as a Weavile to onlookers, took over the lead. Having known Spikeford streets like the back of his hand, this "Weavile" directed his little squad to that one abandoned inn several blocks away from the marketplace -- if the faded sign was anything to go by. And as for the actual entrance to the safehouse, it was in the guest room number ### (the resistance had already provided that detail beforehand), right under its bed.

 

With that, every group had found their way to the rendezvous - by warp or by tunnel, the network all led to the same final safehouse closer to Shadowblight.

Xuehua gave the others a nod as she peeked out of the trapdoor, the other mages behind her dispelling the Lucario illusion for a moment. "Everyone's here, right?"

 

@WavePearl @122 Generation @ChocoChicken

"Welcome, my friends. I take it we're--" a Braixen welcomed Blacky's group as soon as they entered the main safehouse only to be cut off by Celine tackle-hugging him. The way she addressed him ("Big bro!") clued everyone else in on who this Braixen was: Elio, the resistance's liaison with the Kickenham guild (Ludester guild had its own liaison).

"It's a pleasure to meet you again, good Elio," Chief Ampharos said, seemingly implying that they had already met each other before (spoiler: they did, but that's a tale for another time). "We've got more people to help here," he added.

"Yeah, I can see that. Come on," Elio smiled as he led the group to a deeper part of the safehouse where the other groups had already gathered. He also took this moment to give both Josson and Blacky his thanks for taking care of his sister for him (Elio was aware about Celine living at that one orphanage run by Josson's wife after the siblings lost their father to the Sol Dragon King).

By then everyone had already gathered for the action. "I believe so, yeah," Blacky replied to Xuehua with the Moonlight Bow -- that one Umbreon bow from the shadow quest back in Keelford -- held with a paw. Just like his initial scouting back in the Moon lair Star Cave, he couldn't let the guards know that he's actually a swordsmon, albeit at his master's suggestion this time. After all, with such a hostile town, people might as well report their findings of any interlopers to their dragon overlord and/or his henchpeople.

With everything falling into place, Chief Ampharos cued Archen to snap his enchanted stick, thus alerting the air force members that they could start bombarding now.

 

For a moment, there was silence - the calm before the storm. A moment for Elio and Celine to share a hug, for the hired folk to take a breather, and just sit with the echo of a snapped twig.

Then, reverberating throughout all of Spikeford came a war cry. Three war cries, really - of three Legendary birds, melded into one with the roars of the Radiant Sky sect behind them. The ground thundered not only with the sound but also with the Air Slashes and Gusts buffeting the town.

The thundering of guards running past covered up Aine's peephole for a moment. It was hard to tell if they were guards or merely citizens, but in Spikeford, those were basically the same. The important part was that they were headed for the attacks - away from the path they'd mapped out to get to Shadowblight.

Xuehua pulled her staff out, slotting it into a newly-installed flap of cloth attached to the inside of her hood, and started towards the inconspicuous exit of the safehouse. "There's our opening. Let's go!"

 

Shadowblight

Inside the school amid the bombardment, the Litwick known as Mochi was rudely awakened by the sound of crashing and rumbling. "Hello... What's going on?" she mumbled as she rose from her bed and rubbed her eyes.

"What's going on?! The school is under attack! It's war! We should probably stay in our dorm, to be safe," Mochi's Morpeko dormmate replied. "The teachers are trying to get everyone up to fight."

"Really exaggerating things as usual, aren't you? We should stay under our beds or something," Mochi replied.

The roaring outside caused the walls of their dorm to shake, causing them to seek shelter. Outside the room, there were Haunter, Scraggy, and Houndoom running around and following their teachers around the school. Mochi wondered if she should evacuate or just stay inside. Like, she didn't completely agree with the principles that this school was teaching, so maybe this was retribution? She looked outside the small window in the room to see Spikeford in panic. Whoa, that didn't look right.

Safehouse

Atelier then drew out his weapons. "Remember our strategy! Stay in your assigned party, infiltrate the school, and find some kind of staging ground we can use! Our friends from Radiant Sky can't hold out forever and it's only a matter of time that they'll either tire or be shot down. Let's make this count! Avoid causing a commotion if you can, at least until we enter the school!"

Afterwards, he also followed Xuehua to the inconspicuous exit of the safehouse.

Outside, it seemed like a battlefield for sure, only that many of the civilians were actually trying to shoot arrows at the birds above. Seemed like the Shadow Dragon King had the entire population on his side. That could be a problem later, but hopefully defeating the king himself would settle things down. For the time being, it was time to head to the school.

 

@WavePearl @ChocoChicken @122 Generation

With that, the battle commenced. The Kickenham people (plus maybe some more) somewhat broke into their own pairs while maintaining formation as they marched forward:

• Chief Ampharos (a battlemage with seemingly more emphasis on "mage") with Bunnelby (a barehanded fighter),
• Swirlix (who mainly relied on her snack-weapons) with Mawile (who wielded tomes in addition to her built-in "jaws"),
• Buizel (a dagger-wielding rogue) with Archen (an archer),
• Blacky (who was on a strict order to save his sword for the Dragon King) with Josson (who actually kept his sword), and
• Celine (a mage fresh out of mage school) with Elio (both siblings wielded wands but Elio also had a rapier ready).

This formation was, by no means, a fixed one. They would need to be flexible with switching partners -- or even separating at all -- depending on the situation on hand.

Unbeknownst to them, Ludester guild had also sent some of their own to this fight. They were made aware of the Kickenham guild's involvement but not vice versa.

So now everyone headed to the school...

 

The path remained thankfully clear, even with as large of a resistance group as there was. The sounds of battle raged on behind them as the silhouette of the Shadowblight Academy building loomed in the distance, over the little alleyways where the groups split up and weaved into.

Xuehua remained slightly ahead, leading the team through the maze of Spikeford's back-alleys almost as if she knew them. Past crudely scrawled graffiti and broken torches, wanted posters put up on the walls...

As the rest of the team followed behind her, they could note a few of the posters. Most of them seemed to have poor reasoning behind them, but the purpose was clear - it was the target that mattered more than the crime. Anyone seemingly too powerful, too popular - anyone that would prove a threat to the Dragon King, really.

Among all of them, one strange poster stood out in particular - more for the species of Pokémon and its relevance to the team. It featured a worn headshot of what appeared to be a young Eevee, expression serious, her asymmetrical fur tamped down for a student's portrait most likely. Judging by the roughness of the paper, it couldn't have been out for less than a year, maybe two.

"WANTED for TREACHERY
Jingye
Student of Shadowblight Academy
Eevee, female, age 13
Last seen heading north, towards Ludester
Five Ruby Crown reward. Alive or dead both acceptable."

 

(I'm running with that assumption too for this post, by the way. )

Along with Xuehua on the lead was the "Weavile" from Aine's squad (actually Sneasler but the mage-minstrels hadn't lifted their illusion spell on him yet). Like her, the dude also knew Spikeford's back-alleys like the back of his hand, so those who had their doubts on Xuehua's lead could at least trust him instead.

Speaking of the wanted posters though, the Eevee one drew Blacky's and Elio's attention in particular.

Blacky & Josson

The fact that there's an Eevee on the wanted poster alarmed Blacky big time -- especially considering some of his closest people were also Eeveelutions. Atelier? Nah, it's a female Eevee they're looking for. Lady Aine? Nah, she's shiny. Xuehua? Nah, she's a foreigner (and Atelier too, come to think of it). His late mother? Nah, she would've been about Master Josson's age -- way too old for this wanted poster -- had she been alive all this time. Master Josson? Nah, same reasons as his mother and Atelier. Big Sis Corinne? Nah, she got married to a Rillaboom last year and he was from Brasswick, not Spikeford. Oh well, whatever.

"Blacky," a grip on his wrist -- his liege's grip -- snapped the Umbreon back to reality. "Let's go," said liege quietly urged. With that, the master-student duo moved onward.

Elio & Celine

This Eevee...

Elio tried to remember where he'd ever seen that particular Eevee before. One of his patients? Nah, most doctors wouldn't really track their patients unless it's for something serious. Someone from Shadowblight? Maybe -- the wanted poster did say she's a Shadowblight student. But the thing is, out of the student body in that school, there's bound to be some Eevee in the mix. One of his former classmates was also an Eevee (and Arceus knows whether she'd evolved already), though their graduation must've predated the wanted poster in the first place.

"Uh... big bro?" Celine tugged her brother's skirt-like fur. "Ah, sorry," said brother flashed a quick smile at her. He then took his sister's free paw with a "Come on," and the siblings caught up with everyone else.

The poster in question

Spoiler: Poster picturified

"WANTED for TREACHERY
Jingye
Student of Shadowblight Academy
Eevee, female, age 13
Last seen heading north, towards Ludester
Five Ruby Crown reward. Alive or dead both acceptable."

 

Atelier also stopped to see what the commotion was about. A wanted poster? And with a bounty on top of that? Judging from the worn state of the poster, it appeared that Spikeford really declared this girl to be a public enemy. Then again, wouldn't the Eevee have evolved by then? Moreover, it struck Atelier that it didn't matter if this girl was found alive or dead. That looked like grounds for an assassination!

Still, he wondered if it was excessive for a student to be wanted. Atelier looked at his companions. Aine appeared curious to know who this Eevee was or what she was capable of. Blacky looked about as curious as Atelier himself. Then there was Xuehua, who Atelier couldn't read what was going on in her mind. Now that he thought of it, the serious expression on this Eevee's face did remind him of someone.

Also, personally, he was curious as to what kind of treachery this girl had gotten into. Was it that bad that there needed an alive or dead bounty on this girl's head?

 

Xuehua paused, seeing the team lag behind. What was up with them?

A whizz only inches from her head interrupted her thoughts. The snap of an arrow burying itself into the ground alerted her to whip out her staff and glare in the direction it had come from, the rest of the army's visions following hers to the front.

Unfortunately, that meant the enemies' own distraction worked.

With the move in attention, the back became less guarded. That soon became relevant as the houses lining the alleyways were suddenly ripped apart by dozens of claws. A group of Sneasels' quick slashes transformed the old bricks into a smokescreen of dust, the simple trek quickly transforming into an ambush.

Weapons continued to meet in the dust, the yelps and cries of multiple fighters indicating that people were definitely getting hurt in there. The more calculated among them dared not attack, for the fear of friendly fire. The Radiant Sky Sect couldn't even help blow away the dust - after all, they were under another attack on their end by the people of Spikeford. Only the frontmost members of the team - the Eeveelutions and a few others - made it out of the dust cloud.

As the few escaped the chaos, the sound of blades clashing grew louder - until a Weavile burst out of the smoke, claws brandished, slashing against Josson's blade as it leapt over them. It landed onto the rooftops across the road that the party had ran onto, right next to the original assassin - a Decidueye standing tall against the darkness.

"That was a warning shot." the Decidueye said, voice proud and high despite all the chaos. "Now, call your reinforcements back. Turn yourselves and your illegal army in for treason."

It narrowed its eyes, pulling the drawstring tighter, and aiming it at Atelier. "Or this next shot won't miss."

Spoiler: Quick Map of the Situation

(Top down view. The alleyway is shown directly behind the party.
D = Decidueye, W = Weavile. P = party, plus any particular characters people wanted to bring into the fight, which I haven't specified.
CHAOS encapsulates the entire rest of the army who won't be in this fight, which is preoccupied with Sneasels in a dust cloud - which the MCs can (and maybe should) assist with, as some of the allies are hurting each other out of not being able to see. Assisting with the army, however, will make them open to attack from the Weavile and Decidueye.)

(And to clarify for @SAF , the bit with the blades is just a one-off - I do not mean to godmod, and neither Josson nor Blacky were hurt. The Weavile essentially bounced off their blades, assuming both of them had em in a defensive stance. Just wanted to make a cool moment.)

 

@WavePearl @122 Generation @ChocoChicken

And now the situation became so chaotic thanks to the army of rogue Sneasel. Clangs of blades and spells flying about became more and more intense. One of these clangs was Josson on his defensive stance having his sword clash with a Weavile's -- an actual Weavile's -- claws. Said Weavile was not alone, however. They came with a Decidueye who had apparently shot an arrow earlier.

For some reason the Decidueye's ultimatum made Blacky snigger, though much to his surprise, a certain Braixen voiced what the Umbreon had been thinking out loud ("What? I thought our lord's the interloper one?") while brandishing both his wand and rapier (yes, Elio's dual-wielding). Like, what, a Spikeford resident roasting his dragon overlord? Sacrilegious!

With Atelier being targeted, Blacky quickly pulled a Reflect Shield out from his bag only for his liege to snatch the shield and use it on his behalf. "Celine, stick with fire spells. Blacky, focus on the bird," the Jolteon hushedly instructed as the girl readied her own wand and the boy shot his own arrow at the Decidueye.

Equipped items

• Blacky: Moonlight Bow (luna arrow shots unless enchanted otherwise), Starlight Bandanna (+1 luna atk)
• Josson: Steel Sword
• Elio: Wand, Silver Rapier
• Celine: Wand

 

Atelier raised his sword and tome in defence. He shot back, "Now what have we ever done that was treasonous? We're only visitors, you know. You can't possibly accuse us of treason. That's not right."

Now that he noticed that the Decidueye was aiming directly at him, Atelier opted to reach into his bag for his Gravelerocks. If he was fast enough (which he doubted), he could dodge the shot and throw the rock as a counterattack. Also, it did not help that the whole army was ambushed like this.

At this rate, the strategy was already in peril. The advance party might not have any reinforcements like this! He was grateful for Blacky bringing out the barrier to protect the party in the meantime. Whatever the case was, the party cannot fall here, else it would be crushed from all sides. It was possible to hold out long enough for reinforcements to arrive, but otherwise he was on his own with the rest of his party.

Balance: 20,900C
Inventory: ?x Books and Novels, 1x Journal, 1x Strategy Book, 1x Middle Rune of the Moon, 1x Watera Tome (SotS), 1x Firaga Tome, 1x Ethereal Grimoire, 1x Brynhildr, 10x Geo Pebbles, 10x Gravelerocks, 1x Thundara Gauntlets, 1x Potion of Fire, 2x Aloe Vera, 1x Kettle and Cup Set, 5x High quality coffee beans
Equipped: Steel Short Sword, Lunar Tome (CdL), Eevee Scarf

 

Well, seems like Blacky and Elio had similar ideas. They both opted to set some protection up, but Elio ended up casting Light Screen to complement Blacky's Reflect Shield (never mind that Josson ended up using it instead). And Celine? She started her own spellcasting fest with a Will-O-Wisp on the Weavile.

Turn 1 actions

• Josson: Reflect Shield from Blacky's inventory
• Blacky: arrow shot (luna) on Decidueye
• Atelier: Gravelerock (?)
• Elio: Light Screen
• Celine: Will-O-Wisp on Weavile
• Aine: ...
• Xuehua: ...
• Decidueye: arrow shot (shadow?) at Atelier (?)
• Weavile: ...

 

(I'll be using multiple turns/moves for the bosses, mostly because there are seven of us and two of them. The Weavile gets to move thrice, the Decidueye twice. I also gave both of them slight quirks that affect how they fight - which can be used against them, if you figure them out, but you won't need to to just end the fight.)

Spoiler: Turn Order

1. Decidueye (for ambush)
2. Weavile (for ambush)
3. Elio
4. Atelier
5. Josson
6. Blacky
7. Aine
8. Decidueye
9. Weavile (2x)
10. Celine
11. Xuehua

(I'll keep track of this, don't worry. For every attack/move, I've rolled a d20, with 10 or above being a success, 1 being a mega fail, and a nat 20 being, well a nat 20. I've clarified each roll in brackets)
(Elio's Light Screen will be "roll with disadvantage" towards enemy ranged attacks - roll the dice twice, and only the lower roll will be taken. I'm assuming Josson's Reflect Shield will do the same, but it's the "backup" for after the Light Screen runs out.)

The Decidueye let a first arrow loose, but Atelier was quick to dodge, tilting his head away and letting the arrow thunk into the wall uselessly (8). Aine was not so lucky - her hesitation meant the Weavile was open to send a Night Slash to her torso (12), a little too late for Elio's Light Screen (3) or Josson's Reflect Shield (item) to block. While not effective damage-wise, it did stagger her a little, more than anything.

The enemies' round of attacks launched, the resistance began its counter. Atelier flung the Gravelerock, which soared up towards the Decidueye - whose proud reload stance indicated it wasn't ready for the rock to smack it in the face. With a squawk of surprise more than anything, it stumbled blindly around the roof for a moment, somehow ducking underneath Blacky's arrow (5).

Indignated by Elio's commont, the Decidueye fired another Spirit Shackle at him - but Elio's Light Screen withstood the hit (3), to its anger. The Weavile on the other hand, now within the party's ranks, went for a dual Metal Claw, aiming for Xuehua and Blacky. The latter, thinking quickly, stuck out his leg and tripped the Weavile, Celine easily blasting it with Will-O-Wisp as it landed on its face. The failed, smoldering assailant was kicked back out the formation onto the road, much to the chagrin of both opponents. (2, 1 - Weavile, 17 - Celine)

Initially holding her staff up to block the almost attack, Xuehua gave Blacky a quick nod as he kicked the enemy down. She fired a Luna Ball at the Decidueye with a yell, but her determination quickly turned to irritation as it batted the spell away with a wing, the spell dissipating on hit(9).

"Visitors? Hah! Do you think we're-" The Decidueye saw its cohort on the ground still coughing from its burn, and somewhat wisely, proceeded to not finish that sentence. "...We knew of other Dragon Kings being felled by a team. And visitors to Spikeford? With such a large army from the sky? If it weren't for direct orders to come here, I would have struck them down myself. But the Golden Eye foresaw this, as she always does."

"That old hag's still - I mean - talk about a fancy title, might it compensate for something?" Xuehua snarled back.

Narrowing its eyes at her comment, the Decidueye began to charge something, its feathers glowing green - and aiming for Xuehua and Atelier...

 

Oh, great. Seems like Aine forgot that music was not her only option amid the chaos. I mean, didn't she see the other minstrels having their own secondary weapons ready while marching to the safehouse earlier? And if that failed to inspire her, there's Blacky who was wielding a bow despite supposedly being a swordsmon. Or... would Aine just (figuratively) say "Screw it," and sing anyway?

(See here for more details.)

And to make things worse for her, none of the minstrels could even hear her -- let alone answer her due to the chaos. This was made clear by Elio who came to cast a Cure spell on the Sylveon's wounds ("I don't think they can hear you, honestly."), so Aine would be on her own for any minstrel-related decisions.