[ti]story[/ti]Story Quest: Silent Night

It was a weird shaped rock that caught Nero's attention this time, one with some strange, worm like ridges running across it. He wouldn't have paid any attention to it at all if his Electrike hadn't been barking so urgently at it. Clearly the Pokemon recognised this as something valuable, and that was enough to halt Nero from slam his pickax straight through it and destroying it. He picked it up as Electrike eagerly wagged his tail, turning it over in his hand in search of some kind of name tag. It took a bit of maneuvering but he eventually got some words to flash up over the item - Vine Fossil. Alright, a fossil, cool. He didn't recognise the name of that one - maybe it was from a later game he hadn't played - but he knew the concept of fossils in Pokemon games so he could respect the value of this rock.

It was shoved into his temporary inventory with the rest of what he'd found as the memory of the initial instruction pop up came back to him. Something about only taking two items out with you, right? He still didn't know what the little scrap of paper did, but that seemed like the worst find so far, right? And presumably the deeper you got, the better the prizes, so it being the first thing he picked up was probably a sign that it was worthless. Oh well, he'd keep it for now, and maybe someone who recognised these items could help give him some more guidance in the mean time.

He picked the pickax up, but hesitated for a moment as he watched his little partner electric type get back to digging too. He was moving noticeably slower now, still with eager movement but almost as though he was already incredibly tired. "You alright, boy?" he asked, instinctively flicking his eyes up to Saint as the potentially knowledgeable person here. As much as he didn't like to ask for help or wanted to pretend he knew everything already, he was painfully aware that he only had one Pokemon with him here, and if something actually were to happen to it, he'd probably end up whiting out.

Despite his slowness, Electrike yapped confirmation at Nero, though whether he was just disguising his struggles was impossible to know. Nero had no choice but to believe him though, so up the pickax went again, hitting the ground with the next timed beat of the music.

ELECTRIKE: 200/400 | FOUND SO FAR: SPELL TAG, OLD AMBER, (Laguna's Present), Vine Fossil
[Fossil2]Gyr1PwW21d15

Orion would glance back to Nero and Blue again, head on a perpetual swivel as all of the people he wanted to protect continued to disperse and drive his blood pressure higher the lower and lower they dug.  This pop up in the UI had been a pain in the ass, but he hadn't wanted to pass the present along to another person for fear of it being some sort of timebomb.  Yet as he watched Tuesday pass hers along to Rose, and how powerfully it moved the small child he would take his from the window and squat low to get on her level.

"Merry Christmas Rosie," he'd offer the present to her with one hand and ruffle her hair affectionately with the other.  "I'm sorry to hear that Santa is...busy sometimes, but don't worry."  A beaming bright smile would cascade across his face as he'd give her a thumbs up.  "If he shows up tonight and doesn't say sorry I'll take a dive onto the naughty list and see if I can't get you some present backpay."  He would shift his gaze to the catgirl and raise an eyebrow at her, hoping she knew what she knew what she was doing.  "Auntie Tuesday and Big Bro Orion have your back no matter what happens, kay?" The words hung as a promise to the small child, and an oath to the catgirl.  

"Till then why don't I help you dig yeah?  I'll help you move all the dirt and if you find any tough rocks I'll break em for you okay?"  

The knot in his stomach grew tighter, something wasn't sitting right with him and it definitely wasn't the pizza he'd eaten before logging in.

...

Meanwhile Achilles was still over with Nero, Laguna, and Roxanne keeping an eye on the situation.  At Roxanne's behest he would help her dig for more bones, rifling through the dirt she dredged up with relative ease for any fragments of the past.

"I wonder where all of these bones came from..."  The cat would muse aloud to the giant boulder baby.  "Something had to have happened here, yeah?"

The Noibat floated silently in response to Tikani the Chikorita's shouts in response, tilting its head confused. Why was asking to taste someone offensive? They didn't understand. If some Pokemon made fruit, wouldn't they want to share? Everyone should share fruit.

Of course, as the actual trainer Alicia Westfield held up a hand and spoke, they didn't really understand. "... I didn't ask to eat them. Just if they tasted good. Maybe just, a lick? I like licking fruits, and-"

"Aww sick!" Joy suddenly exclaimed, ripping up a large Armor Fossil from the ground.

"Uh- Gotta go see what's up!" And off the Noibat flew, staying hungry, and only growing weaker by the minute.

As the floor dropped down below, Joy just laughed, landing in the dirt below. She had to admit, this was kind of fun. Not that she cared about anything that anyone else was doing, or heaven forbid, the lore. But getting good loot was bound to be a good time, even if she did have to dig a little bit to some creepy Christmas music.

"They did not have fruit!" The Noibat returned, frowning deeply as it spoke to their trainer, who was suddenly distracted by the Mystery Gift on their UI. Screw that, they weren't gonna hand it away. Why would they? Unless someone gave her a gift back, how the hell would that be fair?

"Aww, that's sad." Nurse Joy said sarcastically. "Stick around for a bit then, maybe we'll dig something up interesting for ya?"

"Maybe. I-" They suddenly paused, slowly fluttering to the ground as Nurse Joy struck to the beat and pulled something up. "I don't feel so good."

"Oh, come on. Pull yourself together." Joy groaned, rolling her eyes. "You can't be that weak, can you? Look at everyone else, they're still kicking. You're not even doing anything, you just pestered me about food."

"S-sorry, sorry, I'll... get back up. Just, give me a minute."

Loot: Armor Fossil

[Fossil2]K0WW45sP1d15

Presents.

This really is some abandoned, forgotten, holiday event, isn't it? But... is it corrupted?

Domino looks at the gift in her hands, watching the way a kaleidoscopic array of light is reflected by silver wrapping paper. What to do... what to do... would playing by the rules be a worse outcome than not doing so? Were this not Mistra, she would probably keep her present just to see what would happen... pick the most chaotic option and all that.

What will she pick now?

"Bean, baby, stop digging for a sec and heal those who might need a hand, yeah? I'm taking this gift to our friend over there."

The Dudunsparce, half burrowed into the dark earth by now, YAWNS at Domino's words, looking around with sleepy eyes while the Beta Tester herself approaches Hekate once more. Bean's gaze fixes upon Saint's own little helpful Popplio.

L4Iszwya5d12
-50 HP from strain (250/300)

"Hey, again. Hope your digging's been going well." She smirks, gift in hand. She offers it to Hekate as if it weren't a big deal at all, dozens of bright colours shining in her eyes. "Here! Dunno what this whole gifting thing might lead to or what's inside these, but I think we're better off not getting on that naughty list, no?"

She laughs at that, but honestly, deep down she really hopes she won't regret handing the present to this unsuspecting stranger.

[Fossil2]1d15

DUDUNSPARCE: 200/350

"Yes, I'm fine," He reassured Sae'ranis, dropping his hand from the other man's arm as soon as he realized he'd just sort of... gently pulled the other player back toward the rest of the group, including poor Saint who he'd brushed off for the moment.

When Sae slipped back into his character's persona, Alistair fought down a frown. Really, everything was super awkward right now. He should have handled the whole thing better. Of course, Sarthor could have also made an effort not to literally look and move past Alistair to hand Saint a gift. Even if Alistair were the type to not take offense, it would've still been weird as hell. Fortunately for everyone, he wasn't the type to get hurt very easily either. There were already clearly several emotions running high in the larger group of players right now, the last thing he needed was to add to the overall stress beyond being snubbed.

"Do they? He answered glibly, with a twinkle in his eye, as though their awkward out-of-character moment hadn't even happened. "Well then, where I'm from it's traditional to return the favor," The man responded, handing over his own gift as he took Lord Darien Blackthorne's offering. The annoying pop-up finally cleared, and Alistair looked warily around. There was something like ash falling, and then even more eerily...

"Do you all see those prints?" He asked, staring at the compacted earth around Blackthorne with growing dread. "... Saint, right? Stick close to Blackthorne and I." he said, feeling a little bad about dismissing the other player so eagerly earlier. It really, really wasn't his fault. But he couldn't just ignore whatever it was that Sarthor was doing either... "Pidove, will you at least keep an eye on these two?"

<What a reasonable suggestion, for once! Certainly.> Said the pokemon, fluttering closer, and canting her head to look first at the giggling pumpkaboo, and then the cheerful popplio. She seemed satisfied with their wellbeing for the moment, and only settled back down again. Alistair looked at her critically- she was a sturdy pokemon, but he could see the signs of strain starting to show. Whenever she moved, tufts of down or stray feathers scattered from her body. Additionally, she was starting to fluff up as though she were exposed to cold, her wings conversely clamped tight when she wasn't moving around. Rather than leave the excavation to his protective companion, Alistair waited for a solid beat from the eerie, "festive" music, and swung down with his pickaxe.

[Fossil2]1iplMyHV1d15

Emery went rigid for a brief second and began to laugh at Jade Jager 's words, and went even harder at the other's slight cop-out. Not that she minded in the least; she was here to play a game, not to win a debate. She waved some dust away, eyes dancing. "We sure are, Ms Dragonfly. For all I know, you could just be a particularly realistic NP-"

The rest of her sentence was whisked away by the groggy air, replaced with a girlish screech, as terra firma ceased to exist whilst they were still standing on it. Emery scrabbled at nothing in a panic and still ended up on her ass. Idol had swooshed up into the air and accompanied her on the short fall, attempting to prevent any clods from puffing up in her face. She was still dazed for a good while, squinching her eyes.

When Jade's monkey started yelling upwards, Emery flitted back into herself.

"Argh..." She rubbed the base of her spine, glad she hadn't landed on the pickaxe's pointy end. She coughed, noticing that Jian was close by and Jade was decidedly not. A squint up told her that yes, those wings were in fact functional, not just cosmetic. 

"Are you alright, Viv?!"

"No, but it doesn't matter," grumbled Emery, struggling to her feet on uneven ground. "Though maybe I should be asking you. You look awfully pale, Idol. Is it the" - she waved her hands around - "miasma, this corruption thing about this place?"

The blue seal was indeed looking under the weather; just swimming in the air seemed to be taking a toll on him, with the way his tiny chest was heaving and how the tips of his flippers and tail were lightly crisping like he had a bad case of fin rot. 

"Nothing gets by you, does it?" Idol settled onto her shoulder, slumping with his nose next to her cheek. "I can hang on for a bit longer, but oh golly gosh Viv, I think I'm starting to feel the call of the moon's own ocean...it glitters so brightly...and the wind feels so fresh..."

"Hey now, don't go swimming towards the light on me." Emery put a bracing hand atop Idol's head. She glanced around and saw people gradually continuing to dig. Now that made sense to her. "We've still gotta make this worth. I'll treat you something nice after this, alright?"

She felt his head bob slowly up and down, moving her hair, and then got to work. It wasn't long until the tactile feedback from the pickaxe got strange again, and Emery hurriedly stooped down to pluck something from the dubious dirt.

[Fossil2]i_QduJ5w1d15

Before she could investigate properly, a popup blipped onto her field of view. A quick skim and her eye twitched in amusement. Presents? Another gimmick, was it? Digital hot potato with the threat of a naughty list hanging above her head - well, that sounded very interesting. And right there, next to her feet, was an unobtrusive, yet frighteningly festive giftbox. 

Ah, what the hell. How bad can it be? Why do I care that half my view is obscured? I can still see just fine if I tilt a bit.

She toed the present closer so that it sat between her feet and got to examining what she'd dug up, turning her head in what would look a very strange manner to onlookers.

IDOL :: 50/150 HP