azume | Week 8.

Week 8.

WEEK 8

Snowpoint City remains as cold and unforgiving as ever, through no fault of its residents.

The city itself doesn't seem to see much change in the passing days; there's something you'll all become rather aware of on Sunday as the day goes on, and after so long with no incidents along those lines it's likely an unpleasant thing to deal with. There's also the fact that the changes to the world seem to be slowing; though the one alteration that's immediately obvious is a major one, it seems that things may be beginning to stagnate again. Will there be a slip back into apathy again, if this continues? Or will the changes you've affected already continue to hold?

Only time will tell, really.

That doesn't mean that nothing has changed, however - thankfully enough, the slugs seem to be settling. Or...well, more accurately, once in a while they stop huffing at each other long enough to drive up piles of snow with their heads and stare at them like they're trying to work out what they're attempting to create, but at least it's a collaborative effort. Are they attempting diplomacy? It's difficult to tell; after all, they are just slugs. But at least there seems to be a little less open hostility. Improvement...? Perhaps.

The local ghost Pokémon also seem to have taken an interest in you lately, though precisely...how is a little mixed. They don't seem overly mischievous or malicious - they seem about as odd as the rest of the wild Pokémon in the region - but they do seem more inherently trusting of you and your traveling group. They've taken to following you from time to time, and taking a general vague interest in what you're doing. So that's...new.

CURRENT LOCATION: SNOWPOINT CITY
POKEMON AVAILABLE: WITHIN CITIES

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY
[OOC: Welcome to week eight of Azume; feel free to make as many top levels as you'd like and tag out to other characters! This post is for all of your interactions this week... at least until the weekend.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[And now there are three of you to go in alone together! Or something.

Anyway.

What are we doing from here?]

[Well, assuming we're not going to descend into some kind of argument like a bunch of dummies...

Michael will hop on up those stairs, and try to crack the doors open a bit so he can peer through before actually walking inside! Cat Janet is just behind him, and Jane Doe the Gastly is floating along as well - Keith may want to keep his Pokemon safe from potential threats, but Michael's willing to risk it for the possibility of them protecting him.]

[Ignis has all four of his out with him, Hemera leading the metaphorical charge.]

So what was that noise the other day? It sounded rather like ice breaking.

I wasn't planning on going in alone. I was just trying to figure out what happened.

[ throws hands in the air!! not really, but anyway. ]

There's only one way to find out.

[ he starts helping michael try to crack the doors open. ]

[The doors will give you some resistance with regards to opening; it seems they've been sealed like this for a while. But eventually the ice at the hinges will crack and give and the doors will open - it seems that they pull outward.

The doors lead into a large, frigid room that appears to be made of stone like the rest of the temple; it's full of tall pillars stretching up to the high ceilings above you, and directly in front of you on a raised platform there seems to be a large mass of...something that can't quite be seen in the darkness.

Ignis in particular will probably be able to tell by scent and the like that while this place has been kept very cold, it hasn't seen fresh air in a while.]

Well. No monsters coming yet.

[That's something.]

It's a big stone room with pillars. Really tall in here, kinda a Moria vibe. There's a sort of platform thing in front of us, and there is definitely something up there. Let me try a light...

[He actually brought a flashlight this time, after that whole thing at Lake Valor...will shining it at the platform help? From here in the doorway, that is, he's not proceeding further if he can get a visual from back here.]

[It looks like a giant stone statue, several times larger than anyone in your group, almost reaching up to the ceiling itself. It seems to have been carved in roughly the shape of a person with its arms crossed over it's chest; it doesn't seem to have a defined face or other features, just two vertical rows of protrusions running down its front. Think like the buttons on a double-breasted jacket, Michael, only they're not implied to be on fabric, they're directly part of the body and head, and that's about the closest to a face it's got.]

[ keith finally brings out his houndour to give a little more light, and he looks at the statue. not the strangest thing he's seen, but he steps inside of the temple, ahead of michael. ]

Let's keep moving.

Right...

[He moves forward too, since nothing seems immediately dangerous. Though, for Ignis's sake, and thank you for providing statue info in exactly his language:]

It's a giant statue. Looks like a human, but it doesn't have a face or anything. Just these little things down the front...like if somebody cut it open lengthwise and then buttoned it up again. [He snaps his fingers.] Like a double-breasted jacket!

[The hall appears to be large, dark, and outside of being full of pillars and that...weird statue, it seems largely empty. It's noticeably devoid of Pokémon, but the stone floors are sturdy and don't seem about to crack, and everything seems pretty immediately safe, if a bit on the dark and spooky side.

To the right of the statue there seems to be a staircase, leading downwards and out of sight behind it, into the darkness below.]

There's some stairs.

[Are we...well, okay. He's got a light, so he'll go first down the stairs.]

...just a sidenote, I've seen enough living rocks around here that I don't completely trust that statue.

You think it's liable to be a living creature? I wouldn't be very shocked myself, were that the case.

[Ignis listened as Michael provided commentary, his Absol still a few steps ahead as he followed.]

But on the other hand, I don't believe this place has been opened in a very long time.

No. Really fucking cold in here, though, I doubt you've got any toxic mold to worry about.

[He should probably also be concerned about toxic mold. But yeah, it's too cold for life.]

[So, downstairs we go! The staircase goes on for a very, very long time, it seems - exactly how far down it's going is difficult to tell just by the flashlight beam and whatever embers are coming off of Keith's Houndour, but it certainly doesn't seem to be getting any warmer down here, either.

After a while, a loud noise seems to shake the stairs - an impressive task, given that they're made of the same hewn rock as the temple. It's another of those harsh, guttural groaning noises, followed by an odd, loud noise almost close to a roar of some sort, sharp and primal.]

That's...not the best of signs.

[goodness, it's just like home. nobody liked costlemark tower but here we are.]

Should we continue onward?

It seems like we might be descending into hell.

[He turns for a second to sweep the beam back behind them, just to check on how far down they've come.]

So I guess I'm game.

Sounds rather like the ruins from back home. I think we can handle it--if not, we'll just have to pull back and see about sealing the temple again.

What are our temple-sealing options right now? I don't have anyone that can produce ice.

[But he sounds pretty casual about this hypothetical for now, and he'll continue to lead the way on down.]

[ that is a really bad sign indeed. ]

I don't have anyone, either. But I agree. We should keep going and figure out what's going on, at the very least.

Neither do I. Should the worst case scenario befall us, two of us may need to hold whatever this is back while the third finds the others for aid.

Either way, I think we've gone too far to turn back. May as well continue, but be cautious. It would be a poor idea to rush into a fight when a violent solution may be the poor choice.

[The stairwell continues downward in a way that looks almost like it dead-ends, leading to a landing and a sharp bend leading to more stairs to the right; this set isn't as long, however, leading out onto what appears to be another, lower level of the temple.

The floor here appears to be completely covered with more of that strong, unbreakable ice, with more of those pillars reaching up to the ceiling and another large, foreboding statue that seems very similar in nature to the first, though this one has noticeably been frozen over.

Try not to fall, guys. What now?]

We’re looking for an angry zamboni Pokémon, great. Watch the ice, Ignis.

[Michael will be leaning on his Gastly’s floating head-orb for balance. Failing Zambonimon, he’ll just look for a door or more stairs or something. ]

I'm alright, thank you.

[Fortunately, the Kingsglaive uniform is a very sturdy one with real good traction on those ridiculously tall boots.]

I presume it's safe to say we're dealing with an ice type, at this point.

Might even be some kind of god, considering where we are and how much noise it's causing.

[ keith stays off to the side, using the walls to help him balance and not fall on the ice. he's also looking for another entrance to see if there's somewhere they can proceed to. ]

[It looks like the entire floor is frozen over; however, there's an area near the statue where the ice seems a bit thinner. Want to check it out?]

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