Week 8.

[azumods]

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.]

Comments

SUNDAY

[azumods]

MONDAY

[azumods]

TUESDAY

[azumods]

WEDNESDAY

[azumods]

THURSDAY

[azumods]

...

[azumods]

[After the excitement late Saturday night, it may be tempting to take a headcount of everyone still with your group; there's still the full count that evening, though at least one of your number, Linda, is noticeably quiet, sitting by the wall of the center and seeming more listless than usual. That sort of thing isn't exactly uncommon here - a few of you have gotten sick over the past few weeks - so perhaps it's just a particularly off day. Some sort of illness, maybe, or a bit too much time spent out in the cold.

However.

When Sunday morning comes around, it'll be noticeable that your numbers have dropped by one - Linda can't be found anywhere around the city or on the surrounding routes, no matter where you look, and her Pokémon and personal belongings are gone. As though she vanished without a trace in the night, despite the fact that she didn't seem capable of it last night.

Again, it's as though the world is trying to convince you that she was never here, no matter how much your memories tell you otherwise.]

exploration group!

[redbellion]

[ so. the scary noise in the temple. keith's been wondering about it, mostly because he's concerned that whatever's in there is going to pose a major threat to their group and to the people of this city. he's not going to go in there alone (probably), but curiosity leads him to the front entrance. he has his pokemon in their pokeballs, because he doesn't want them to be frightened by any of this.

keith stands in front of the shattered ice, bag on his shoulders as he looks up at the temple. ]

[eudaimonikos]

[Michael's been vacillating a little bit on this. On one hand, he did mean what he said about being a good advance scout. He really did! On the other, man he is not excited at the thought of going into the big creepy temple alone. Does he need to, like, is this a thing they need to investigate? Not really on the same level as Lake Acuity, is it?

Going with people seems like a fine solution to all of this.]

If I'm not allowed to go places alone, I don't see why you would be.

[discutio]

[It was kind of hard to just ignore the creepy sound from the giant temple, and harder still to presume at least someone would get it into their head to wander in alone.]

[...Turned out he was right about that last point, go figure.]

Let's not investigate the ancient ruins one at a time, shall we?

[eudaimonikos]

[oh fuck no he's not taking the fall for this]

Exactly my point. Thank you, Ignis.

[azumods]

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

Anyway.

What are we doing from here?]

[eudaimonikos]

[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.]

[discutio]

[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.

[omissions]

[Sunday morning will have Ari approaching everyone, both in the traveling group and random citizens in the street, to ask a very important question:]

Hey... have you seen Linda anywhere?

[Her belongings and Pokemon are gone, and while this looks like what happened to the other people in their group that have disappeared, Ari still makes the effort to try to look for her everywhere he can think of, until finally he is forced to come to the conclusion that she is gone.

As a result, Ari can be found later sitting in the Pokemon Center. He's worried about Linda and feels rather useless for not being able to find out where she went, but... for now, he tries to find something to distract himself with, in the form of two of his personal items sitting on a table in front of him. His music box with this tune sits open playing it's music, while he has a second box in front of him that appears to contain... gears. Little mechanical gears of different shapes and sizes that, judging by the way he is attempting to put them together, appear to be able to form something. However, no matter how he arranges them, it doesn't seem to form a coherent shape and is just a strange puzzle. Even his Klink floating by and watching seems a bit confused by whatever this is supposed to be.

Eventually, he can be found again later in the evening, outside with his Pokemon as he attempts to train them. If Linda was, god forbid, kidnapped or something, it would be best to make sure that he and his Pokemon were prepared if they ever had to confront the reason for her absence.]

Morning

[hyruglyphics]

[ Sunday morning and Zelda is fiddling with the Sheikah Slate in the morning, her Metang glancing there over her shoulder, floating, as she does. She's at work here with a frown and... ]

Oh- oh, Linda...?

[ She doesn't know Linda well uh- ]

... No, I don't think so?

[omissions]

Oh... hm. [Ari frowns.] She was acting kind of strange yesterday, and now I can't find her, or her Pokemon. I'm a little worried...

[redbellion]

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. ]

[hyruglyphics]

[ So like Eru or Alice or Johan or Shirou... though now they're in a space it's even weirder to vanish from. Weird. She frowns a little, brushing her hand against her arm. No, it's probably too quick to jump to that. ]

No, that is worrisome. She did appear quite spacey and ill the other day.

[azumods]

[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.]

[eudaimonikos]

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.]

[azumods]

[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.]

[redbellion]

[ 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.

[eudaimonikos]

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!

[azumods]

[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.]

[eudaimonikos]

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.