Josh Devlin
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Lionheart
The Creed
Posts: 1,216
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Josh Devlin
OOC Username: RaikouRider
Arena Points: 38
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Post by Josh Devlin on Aug 27, 2024 15:01:25 GMT 9
The longer Josh listened to Alkaid 's story, the happier he was that he fled. Cosmic horror was one genre he could not handle, which was why he bailed on that Shadows over Asper quest. As awesome as it would be to raise an Articuno, it was not worth the trauma that the Abandoned Village put him through. His curiosity made him consider asking Altair what happened after he fled.
Josh's gore settings were turned up higher despite his pain settings being lower; thankfully the two were independent sliders. It took everything he had within him to avoid regurgitating his breakfast. "Arceus, Alkaid... and you've had that wound since Midas? I knew something bad was gonna happen if I stuck around, but nothing like that."
That the blood was part black too was even more concerning. "That's not the normal color for blood, either," Josh added. "It's... concerning what caused that..."
Alkaid
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Alkaid
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Player Character
Posts: 544
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Laurence Anderson
OOC Username: Akivili
Arena Points: 10
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Post by Alkaid on Aug 27, 2024 16:50:28 GMT 9
tw: slight gore / blood / light cosmic horror (mostly for ‘kaid though) “Ever since then,” he would quietly nod. The tissues he’d dabbed onto the injury, when he pulled them away—didn’t reveal normal, bright-colored blood; but a darker shade of red that looked almost black if viewed from a certain angle.
“See, that’s the thing,” he continued after taking another sip from the milkshake after he was done patting the blood away as best as he could, before popping out some disinfectant he kept on him; futile as it may have been.
“I have yet to meet up with Alicia, so I don’t know if this,” he would gesture to the hand he was now tending to with the sharp rank of the disinfecting liquid being dabbed on it, “…is going to act all weird. The one thing I did notice, though, is that… you know how there’s that entire area where nobody’s allowed because Zapdos supposedly strikes the entire area with lightning bolts to chase people away?”
He would wait for the other to reply.
“…I wouldn’t recommend going there if I were you, kid. I don’t think you could take… whatever strange shit’s out there.”
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Josh Devlin
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Lionheart
The Creed
Posts: 1,216
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Josh Devlin
OOC Username: RaikouRider
Arena Points: 38
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Post by Josh Devlin on Aug 28, 2024 12:00:40 GMT 9
Taking in the information he had been given, it was terrifying to think about. Even with all the preventative measures, the wound bled and bled. It took a tightly-wrapped bandage to keep the man from exploding like an overfull mosquito. "I've already been there once," Josh revealed. "I was weak back then. I think level 4 or 5. Now I'm level 16 going on level 17. More importantly, I have Bolter maxed. Zapdos isn't gonna scare me." Especially not when he had one of his own. He was just waiting for some event validation, and he would have two Zapdos of his own.
"Plus, I've found a back door," Josh added. "Have you been to the Doortals at the bottom of Route 7?" There was also an Instance he had actively explored with Nero . Was that ever a trip...
Alkaid
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Alkaid
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Player Character
Posts: 544
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Laurence Anderson
OOC Username: Akivili
Arena Points: 10
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Post by Alkaid on Aug 28, 2024 12:10:26 GMT 9
He… he didn’t get the point of the warning, did he?
“Whatever you do. Don’t go out there. It’s. I made the mistake of going there once, and. The place. It. It messes with you. Especially if you’ve got something like this, it reacts… strangely. Like, the entire corrupted place messes with your mind,” he emphasized the wound on the back of his hand before getting back to slapping some first-aid on it.
He shuddered as he finished dousing the persistent wound with the disinfectant before peeling off a new length of bandages and wrapping it around his right hand as snugly as he could. It was all a preventive measure; how would it permanently ‘heal’ he had no idea yet, but still.
Once he was done addressing the injury, he would keep the disinfectant (and made a mental note to buy some more later) as well as the bandages, before—
“What back door—” he blinked once he’d returned to what was left of the waffles and chicken he had. “I don’t have the Swimmer class, kid, you know that’s kind of a requirement to explore underwater. What exactly did you see there?”
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Josh Devlin
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Lionheart
The Creed
Posts: 1,216
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Josh Devlin
OOC Username: RaikouRider
Arena Points: 38
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Post by Josh Devlin on Aug 28, 2024 12:44:32 GMT 9
"It's not that I don't appreciate the warning," Josh bravely defied Alkaid . "I think I'm a lot more prepared now than I was back then. Plus, I've got a secret weapon now." Pulling up his new skill menu thanks to dipping into Player, he showed entries for his mid-level skills: AGILAO, ZIONGA, and AQUAZI. "I'm more than capable of defending myself. I do have one concern, though. Take a look at this."
His Dewgong's status screen showed a concerning ailment. "This happened when I was at the Doortals. You see, under Route 7's oceans, there's this seafloor with doors as far as the eye could see. I found one that leads to Mistra. Deep into Mistra. When I stepped inside, that's when Ulysses began to change. Did you experience anything like this when you went to Mistra?" he asked expectantly.
Alkaid
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Alkaid
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Player Character
Posts: 544
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Laurence Anderson
OOC Username: Akivili
Arena Points: 10
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Post by Alkaid on Aug 28, 2024 12:54:47 GMT 9
He was sorely tempted to pull up his screen as well, however fact of the matter that it was in French may confuse the younger man (kid, really) so he decided not to—at least for now.
“…funny you should ask,” he added—his voice going down so low the other would have to lean in close.
“When you’re out there. In the Corruption… things. Strange things happen. Did you. did you encounter anything like… multiple eyeballs appearing all over your Pokémon’s body, or hear a voice of something speaking to you directly in your head, like… taking advantage of your deepest, darkest fears and nightmares that you don’t want anyone else to find out?”
Why did it sound like he was speaking from personal experience?
(He totally was.)
“You’re mostly alright because. Because you weren’t attacked by that strange thing—the strange sentient liquid… it looked like some kind of cosmic ichor, I can’t exactly recall anymore—that cut my hand open and well. Gave me this. It refuses to heal no matter what I try. I already brought it out to—you know that healing tent by the Steppes?”
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Josh Devlin
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Lionheart
The Creed
Posts: 1,216
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Josh Devlin
OOC Username: RaikouRider
Arena Points: 38
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Post by Josh Devlin on Aug 29, 2024 6:51:48 GMT 9
Josh shrugged; none of it sounded too familiar. "All I remember of it was hearing creepy, distorted Christmas music. Nothing anywhere close to what you experienced," he reported on the event that had temporarily corrupted even Dr. Bunya. "Then all of a sudden, the whole place disappeared with this strange 'Quest Terminated' pop-up. That's what I remember of going to Mistra. It sounded like I only scraped the tip of the iceberg."
Midway through their conversation, their waiter returned with their checks, Josh taking a moment to count out his portion of the bill before continuing. "Yes, I know what Pokémon Center you're talking about," the child answered. "I end up going there a lot; the Surge Steppes are kind of my playground. What about it?"
Alkaid
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Alkaid
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Player Character
Posts: 544
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Laurence Anderson
OOC Username: Akivili
Arena Points: 10
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Post by Alkaid on Aug 29, 2024 14:39:25 GMT 9
His brow furrowed.
That. That did not sound like anything that he’d experienced while he was out at Mistra. It was—it was like he’d missed something, maybe because the time it happened he was…
Preoccupied.
He would then retrieve his own wallet and pull out a few bills; before putting them on the tray before the wait staff took said tray away to count the money and to return should any of them have change.
(He most likely overpaid a little, due to being so distracted.)
“Well… I went there and asked the nurse what they thought about it. I got… an entire litany about how the Corruption should be avoided at all costs, and if I knew to value my own life, to stay well away from it.”
But… for some inexplicable reason, the more people warned him to stay away, the more he wanted to explore the damned place; if but to get to the bottom of everything and to see why he had such a violent reaction to the place in general.
“Maybe… it’s because our experiences are different… you haven’t seen the eldritch horrors I have,” he would continue in an uncharacteristically quiet voice.
Why, if he closed his eyes for a few moments, he would see the shadow of a serpentine face with disjointed eyeballs hanging out of its sockets, cackling his way while bearing its mouth open wide, wide, so wide that it was ready to swallow him whole—
“…which is why, if you really know what’s good for you, you’d best stay as far away from… there.”
His brow would furrow at the Dewgong’s condition.
“I thought the Corruption couldn’t afflict itself on any of our Pokémon,” he would hum as the change dish was returned—yes, he’d indeed overpaid. Leaving some of the change there, he would get up from the chair.
“How is that possible?”
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Josh Devlin
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Lionheart
The Creed
Posts: 1,216
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Josh Devlin
OOC Username: RaikouRider
Arena Points: 38
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Post by Josh Devlin on Aug 30, 2024 13:47:59 GMT 9
The longer Josh listened to Alkaid's account of Mistra and those near the Surge Steppes, which lined up with what he had heard, the more he understood why he had gone there... and why he was instructing Josh to stay away. "Such is the challenge of resisting curiosity's allure," the child answered with eloquence that gave away that he indeed was not his physical age. "It makes me wonder if Mistra shapes its horrors to its players, because I did not see anything like that."
As Josh stood up, insisting that his payment was just right (the way tip workers were paid in the States should have been a crime), he shrugged. "I'm unsure. It happened when I went through the Doortals to get to Mistra. Perhaps the effects of the Corruption are stronger the deeper you go," he conjectured, pushing in his chair. "And once I gain a few more levels and become a bit tougher, I want to investigate. I've even tried upgrading my Support HP. Doesn't raise my Dewgong's max HP accordingly. As morbid as it sounds, I've accepted that a trip to the Everworld is in his future... and mine. It's not an if. It's a when."
Alkaid
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Alkaid
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Player Character
Posts: 544
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Laurence Anderson
OOC Username: Akivili
Arena Points: 10
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Post by Alkaid on Sept 1, 2024 14:00:16 GMT 9
He shuddered quietly. Damn, the (literal) kid was asking for trouble, wasn’t he?
“I already warned you—if you value your sanity, stay the hell away from that place. It’s extremely dangerous. It… it does things. Messes with… messes with your mind. Like a leech dropped in the center of your brain, sucking away all the blood in it before going elsewhere…”
Another shiver would escape him.
He wondered if the other was truly ready for the mind-fucking horrors that awaited him when they set foot in the corruption…
“Speaking of which. Did you get a strange item from the place after you bailed?” he would follow up as an afterthought.
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Josh Devlin
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Lionheart
The Creed
Posts: 1,216
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Josh Devlin
OOC Username: RaikouRider
Arena Points: 38
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Post by Josh Devlin on Sept 2, 2024 13:35:59 GMT 9
It was scary, yes. Josh was terrified of what the Corruption did to his Dewgong. And yet, he felt a compulsion to get to the bottom of Mistra's mystery. He would remain silent until Alkaid asked about his REDACTED LEDGER. "I did, but I think it would be inappropriate to show you here. Let's step outside."
Provided the redhead would follow him to the Boulevard proper, Josh would locate the ledger in his inventory and show it to him. "So this gives me access to the non-elemental spell MEGIDO in battle. It's... really exhausting to cast, but it hits any Pokémon hard. Why, what about it?"
Alkaid
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Alkaid
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Player Character
Posts: 544
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Laurence Anderson
OOC Username: Akivili
Arena Points: 10
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Post by Alkaid on Sept 2, 2024 14:14:33 GMT 9
He would get out of the chair once his milkshake had been drained, and follow the kid out of the café down to somewhere as private as they could get, all things considered.
The moment they showed him the exact same damned thing that was sitting in his own inventory, it took him all the strength he could muster not to recoil at the sight.
“…did you notice if it, like, does weird shit or anything? Like… start singing in some unknown language or start acting more and more like a cursed tome when you interact with it for far too long?” he would ask the other.
There was something extremely suspicious about the entire thing, and yet he didn’t know exactly why it was like that.
(For fact of the matter is, there was another reason why he had such a violent reaction to Mistra… and it was somewhat connected to this ledger.)
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Josh Devlin
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Lionheart
The Creed
Posts: 1,216
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Josh Devlin
OOC Username: RaikouRider
Arena Points: 38
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Post by Josh Devlin on Sept 2, 2024 14:55:57 GMT 9
Now that they were out in the street, Josh felt more comfortable discussing the eldritch tome that gave him the power to overcome any Pokémon's typal defenses. "I don't really interact with it longer than I need to. When I cast it, sometimes I do hear these disembodied voices. Can't understand a word they say most of the time. There's only one line that's been clear enough for me to understand, and it's 'one more god rejected'. I have no idea what it's talking about. It's really helpful in combat, though."
A thought crossed the boy's mind. He needed more Huge Seals, and a total of six would be quite expensive... not to mention all the legendary Pokémon he could obtain through laddering. "If you want to see it in action, why not PVP me in the Arena once our food settles?" he proposed.
Alkaid
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Alkaid
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Player Character
Posts: 544
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Laurence Anderson
OOC Username: Akivili
Arena Points: 10
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Post by Alkaid on Sept 3, 2024 13:36:14 GMT 9
“What the fuck? Yours has a disembodied voice, and it speaks in English to you?”
He would then pop his own menu open, and with some trepidation, would pull his own out—only instead of English, the language he could hear was… either it was some kind of archaic Italian, or archaic French, and he couldn’t make out heads or tails on the damned thing.
“…mine is speaking in some weird-ass variant. I can’t pick it out if it’s ancient French or ancient Italian though, because I am definitely sure the words I can hear right now do not sound anything like English, or European French, or standard Italian at all.”
…did he just reveal that he knew three languages? Damn.
The other would then come up with a suggestion.
“Why, what did you discover the thing is capable of?” he would inquire, curiosity on his features.
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Josh Devlin
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Lionheart
The Creed
Posts: 1,216
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Josh Devlin
OOC Username: RaikouRider
Arena Points: 38
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Post by Josh Devlin on Sept 3, 2024 13:52:49 GMT 9
"It does, and like I said, it's really hard to understand. Sometimes I think it's speaking to me in Latin," the boy shrugged. Was the horrific tome smart enough to manifest discomfort depending on its wielder? It sure seemed like it if it was speaking to Alkaid in a hybrid of three different languages he could understand. "That you can understand three languages at all is mighty impressive. I know like... a few hundred words in Spanish, but not enough to carry on a conversation."
Josh's grin grew wide as the Kindler seemed to ask for a demonstration. "If you don't mind a little walk, I can take you to the fields where I fought my Rival, and you can see it in action there."
Alkaid
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