[ti]dungeon[/ti]Round 2: Drink Till We're Offline

”What the hell kind of name is Fram?!” Tuesday loudly asks her Cryogonal, as actually expecting the pokémon to be able to give her an answer. Who knows what those sneaky Hydance people include in their coding, right?

She had quickly made her way out of the Training Room after gracefully setting down the 1000 kg weights that totally hadn’t been a problem to lift because Tuesday is awesome and cool and a badass who would never ever do something as stupid as get a cramp in a VR game... and now she’s wandering through the emptier rooms. Not because she wants to avoid people, of course! And, like… she’s also totally not avoiding putting too much weight on her left foot. It’s fine. It’s fine. She’s fine.

She distracts herself by looking through her pilfered recipe book. The first page says something even weirder than what the name of the author had been:

”The blaze and the keg will lead the Clan to victory...What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

Is her group her “clan” or something. No, Tuesday is not familiar with the reference, obviously. But, hey, at least the recipes must be normal, right?

SAGAL’S HAUNTING YAM DIY REHAB

Tuesday sighs. "DIY Rehab… If that means a virtual hangover cure, I might need to have a look at it later." Having had enough, she closes the book and puts it away once more, finally turning her attention back to her surroundings and to searching. She’s in the Dining Room. There’s a hell of a lot of cutlery.

"Damn, this takes me back. Some of these don’t match, though… Let’s see…"

She calls her Whirlipede over and grabs an oyster fork – which is much different from a dinner fork, a salad fork, a fish fork, and definitely from a dessert fork, gods be merciful on whoever would dare confuse them all!. When Chariot finally makes it to her side, Tuesday unceremoniously smacks the pokémon’s hard shell with the fork… only for it to be smashed to pieces by the Whirlipede’s IRON DEFENSE.

"Knew it. Okay, Rocinante, your turn. CL has been pretty damn useless anyway."

Is it wise to release a flaming horse inside a house? Maybe not, but Tuesday doesn’t care for that right now.

What she cares about is having the Rapidash hit the bouillon spoon she holds with its horn, and yes, a bouillon spoon is not a soup spoon! Nor is it a teaspoon, an iced tea spoon (yes, those are different too), a fruit spoon, a dessert spoon, a demitasse spoon, or even a table spoon,

<'Ha! Are you drunk?'>

"Shhh… Just shut up and use SMART STRIKE."

They have a short back and forth, and after a moment of totally-not-arguing, when the Rapidash finally attacks, the spoon does not shatter.

"Aha! We have our weapon!" Tuesday announces.

<'The murder weapon, my liege?'>

"No, no, Ancile… Our weapon."

Like the Cheshire Cat she's perhaps meant to be, the cat girl of golden hair grins with mischief.

TEAM: Two Week Boogie
(Tuesday Bergamot Gristleborg Moon Bunny Kath Ulu)
LOCATION: Dining Room
OBJECTIVE: Silverware | 2 Steel moves
(IRON DEFENSE + SMART STRIKE)

the shadows squirm, painting warnings on the walls.

With the hole filled and two new pokemon split from one, Furrlicity found himself wandering back to the dining room. There had to be something they had looked over...

Well, his class had helped him earlier. Maybe another one would help him find something else? So, opening his menu he flipped to Charmer instead.

The serene, grassy aura from his previous Gardener faded away as the Charmer took hold. Orange specks of glowing glitter, like embers and soot, trailed behind him. Black coated his fingers and darkened his claws. Feline eyes seemed more prominent and sharper, as if burning from a fire inside. Unseelie and unnatural.

A whimper from under the table.

Okay, so maybe he didn't need the fancy change.

Peering under the table, Furrlicity was met eye to eye with a little pink... dog thing. Hackles raised before he remembered he was bigger. And a person.

Holding a hand out for the weird dog to sniff, he started to make kissing noises to try and draw it out.

- the snubbul (charmer)
- gunna edit this some when i wake up to interact with Finnegan Fjord better

As Finnegan Fjord showed up to help out, Ruby simply gave him a wide smile. Nothing said they couldn't have people help from other teams, after all. Right? Or was that some kind of rule that she had missed over? Regardless, eventually, Furrlicity Purrfection did come back around and help out. As curious as she was over the tooth, she really didn't want to touch it after it had been in all that goop. Still, she watched curiously as the tooth popped open to reveal a hidden message!

"How interesting. But why is it shaped like a tooth? Was it worn by something, perhaps, in place of its tooth? Or was it just, a decorative piece? Regardless, I don't think I know what to make of the note either. Sounds like one of those puzzles we only know the answers to when we have all the evidence." She just nodded. That made sense to her, anyways.

"I'm going to keep looking around, see if there's anything that hasn't been explored yet." Standing up to her feet, Ruby motioned for her Pokemon to follow her. Anything to get out of that abhorrent clock room.

The tick and tock of the clocks were not pleasant.

The kitchen was an absolute dream in comparison to the dining room. It was so pretty! Ignoring the mess that everyone had made from the party, that is. Floating carefully around the room, Ruby eventually ended up at the Spice Rack.

It was freaking massive. One of those ones that rotated to save space, and obviously contains more spices. Some of them were in little jars that looked like they were homemade, with little labels written on them. "Salt, Green Cardamom, Anardana, Porcini Mushroom Powder, Urfa Biber, Sansho Peppercorn, Hibiscus Blossoms, Charnushka, Nonmanic..."

Ruby's readings of the labels were interrupted by a rather loud Yawn from Murmur, who only looked even sleepier than before. A little yawn cloud floated about the spice rack, even as she turned to face her Pokemon. "Really? You're tired already? We can take a nap when we get home."

And with that, she returned to her reading. Honestly, she was a bit caught up in just how many spices there were. Who lived in this place again? She should probably figure that out. "Saffron, Galangal, Kokum..."

Laguna was still trying to recover from her bout of laughter when Yggy Br00ks came over her way. She raised a hand to wave, clambering up from her place on the floor. She was about to show off the golden carrot, to see if it really was as funny to anyone else as it was for her when they suddenly asked about anything weird.

"Weird?" She blinked slowly, looking around. Now that she mentioned it, things were a bit weird. She had been kind of ignoring most of the strangest things, counting it up to just the amount of alcohol she had drunk or the spooky lighting of the manner. "Yeah... Actually, some things are weird... I mean, I thought it might have been a cosmetic at first."

At the topic of cosmetics, she pointed towards her Bergmite who was currently having fun being a hockey-puck gliding around in the kitchen. It's physical form glitching back and forth as a few of its ice-spikes were filled with TV static.

She watched as her conversation partner's pokemon ripped open the fridge, simply growing more and more curious. It sounded almost like there was a mystery, behind the mystery. Just one look over at Kath Ulu 's pokemon revealed something strange was happening indeed.

And there was only one thing to do when encountered with something strange. Stare it straight in the face! "N'ayez pas peur, Yggy Br00ks ! It's all a game! You go uh, go ask Chadwick! I'm gonna make notes for Professor Ash! She loves ghosties, even gave me a hug for talking about spirits and stuff! Ooh, I should call her... I don't remember how to do that. Ask Chadwick how to use the phone please!"

Even as she spoke, Laguna ripped a few napkins from the counter in the fridge and began to approach Kath Ulu . "Heyyyy girly, don't mind me. Your, uh, pokemon friends look a little funny. Can you ask them to sit still so I can draw for jus' a second? Merci." She didn't even really wait for a response, just starting to sketch out the Grookey almost immediately.

Interestingly, her artistic skills didn't seem to fade all that much with her drunken state. She was just quickly attempting to sketch out all the symbols across their fur onto the kitchen napkin. "There's some, uh, spooky ghosty symbol stuff going on. And I gotta write it all down so the Professor gives me another hug. Okay, that's just a bonus from solving the mystery. But I do like hugs."

Round 2: Drink Till We're Offline
Final Round

Finnegan Fjord may have followed the secret suggestion perfectly, but the card was very explicit. With no fire set, Bros appear and force drinks into his hands. "Chug-a-lug broski! That's the rules!"

He drinks, and feels drawn towards the Keg.

> PRAY OR SACRIFICE?

Regardless of what he chooses, his Mudkip begins to change. While Morgana's Mudkip melted like oil, Finn's dries, moist skin cracking like sun-baked mud. There is no ooze here, only crunchy movement. Gritty muscle grinds away under torn skin as the Mudkip's eyes burn, burn like the flames set in Tuesday's wake.

There was a reason that someone warned you not to set a fire.

Tuesday's burning trail is easy to follow. A beacon for the creatures that have been massing in the shadows. Long-limbed slouchers and clawed beasts draped in murk and soot.

They crawl from every corner of the garden, pawing at the flaming furniture, devouring the flames left behind by the Rapidash. They follow the fire, scrabbling for the burning scraps as they follow the trail all the way to its maker: Tuesday.

And the shadows are just the beginning.

Bergamot Gristleborg's Mudkip and Klefki, Big Bee's Thwackey and Baby Groudon, Kath Ulu's Grookey and Bulbasaur, and Finnegan Fjord's Croconaw and Mudkip, all turn, necks snapping to look directly at Tuesday, regardless of whether she's in eyesight.

And then they move, lumbering, crunching, oozing, tracking the catgirl as they close in on her.

Tuesday is being Hunted by 8 changed Pokemon

While being hunted, roll a d20 with each post.

If you roll less than the number of Pokemon hunting you, you will be caught and attacked.

Setting a trap or taking evasive actions will give you a +2 to your roll.

Through cunning choices and #Badass actions it may be possible to split the attention of the Pokemon hunting you.

If you fail to roll before the mid-round update you will automatically roll a 1.

Players with +5 Winning now see these stats listed when they look at the scoreboard.

---

Dossiers thicken into full-on case files, and Chadwick clears almost every cup from the board.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Poké-Pong Board}

As the rooms are cleared the notes in the dossier thicken. Finnegan Fjord finishes interviewing the Marshtomp in the Hall of Hammers, and an alarming popup appears.

The body of REGINALD BRONSTANTON has been found in the
Hall of Hammers!

His entry log switches from Suspect to Victim, and details of his death fill in.

Suspects

VICTIM 1: REGINALD BRONSTANTON

• Former owner of the mansion, and head of the Bronstanton household
• His portrait shows dark hair and a kind smile, just like his son
• Killed by a powerful blow from a blunt object to the back of the head.
• Time of death: Thursday morning, between 2am and 3 am.
• The Bronstanton family owe their wealth to buying and trading evolutionary stones. Recently, with the influx of new players into the Asper region, and the introduction of Trainer Stars, Water Stones have skyrocketed in value, making the already rich family into multi-millionaires.

Still, the victim is just the first step on the way to a successful investigation. Next is establishing a killer, weapon, and motive. Yet the very next room clearer triggers more questions than answers.

Tuesday completed her investigation of the suspicious silverware, and a second, equally shockingly prompts flashes in everyone's UI.

The body of OPHELIA BRONSTANTON has been found in the Dining Room!

VICTIM 2: OPHELIA BRONSTANTON

• Loves music and dancing, and has a terrible sweet tooth.
• Favorite food is Para-Lychee Ice Cream, much to the annoyance of Elmerich.
• The terrible stain on the floor of the dining room is from a bowl of spilled ice cream, long since spoiled.
• The Bronstanton manor is in great condition. The patch of mildew in the corner of the dining room is very out of place.
• Killed by ingesting a lethal dose of Poison Powder.
• Time of death: Wednesday evening. Approximately 8pm.
• Ophelia's partner Pokemon Snubbul is a trained guard dog, who also has a terrible sweet tooth

Two victims. Each in a different place, with a different time and cause of death. So how are they linked?

Well for one, they were married. Not just that, but they share a child.

"Mom. Dad, both gone," Chadwick says, shaking his head. He lets out a heavy sigh. "Sorry to bring down the party vibe, but sometimes even I find it hard to tear it up at the scene of a double-murder. Promise me you'll solve this murder, kay? I'll do whatever I can to help. Ask me anything."

You can now question Chadwick about the other suspects, the victims, or the events that he witnessed. You can ask up to three questions per post.

There will be a mid-round update in 72 hours where Chadwick will answer questions asked of him.

In the second half of this round players will be able to accuse one of the suspects by listing the murderer, murder weapon, and the motive and laying out how the crime was committed.

SUSPECT 6: CHADWICK BRONSTANTON

• Statement: "It was just a totally normal night. I had dinner with Mom and left the house to go see my bros in town. I didn't stay out too late, and didn't notice anything weird when I went to bed. When I woke up in the afternoon...everyone was..."
• 

The Training Room is cleared next, and Moon Bunny and Tuesday gather plenty of helpful evidence about its primary occupant. Most interesting, however, was the chest of training equipment found in the corner. The upper drawers contain resistance bands, grip trainers, and sweatbands, but the bottom drawer (which should have been locked) has been busted open, revealing rows of Move Mods, presumably used in battle training to simulate attacks of different types.

One of the Move Mods is missing.

SUSPECT 3: THICC ELMERICH

• Personal trainer of the Bronstanton family, responsible for physical fitness and nutrition.
• Often clashed with Miss Putters, fighting over which foods were suitable.
• His partner Pokemon is a Poliwrath, which recently evolved.
• The damage in the gym floor looks like it was made by a heavy, blunt object.
• Move mod is missing from his training gear
• Elmerich's Poliwhirl is known for its powerful Move Modded Flamethrower.

The last area to be cleared is the kitchen, but as Ruby, Yggy Br00ks, and (again) Tuesday, sort through the seemingly infinite stack of spices, they find something a little spicier than smoked Paprika or common, everyday Galangal. They find a collection of exotic Status Powders. The bag containing Sleep Powder is almost full, the Stun Spore is half full, but the Poison Powder bag is completely missing!

SUSPECT 5: MISS PUTTERS

• A chef by trade, Miss Putters has been feeding the Bronstanton family for many years. She practically lives in the kitchen, preparing delicious, gourmet meals with the help of her Pokemon.
• Her partner Pokemon Vanillish is a master of crafting frozen treats, and together they have won many awards for their ice creams
• The freezer is full of her delicious frozen treats, including several tubs of her famous Para-Lychee Ice Cream. It's so good it'll make your tongue numb for hours!
• The spice rack contained jars of ethically sourced status powders

With the house cleared, the players return to Chadwick, who hands them a set of keys. "These should open the last two closed places in the house. The Attic and the Greenhouse." And on cue, two loud clicks echo through the mansion.

ATTIC and GREENHOUSE have been unlocked!

And the final suspect in the dossier gets a name.

SUSPECT 4: GROUNDSKEEPER CRUMB

• Solitary. Remains in the Greenhouse or in the manor gardens at all times, making sure that the greenery around the estate is immaculate.
• Partner Pokemon is a Butterfree
• 

NPC TYPES

A unique mechanic of this investigation is that each NPC has a Pokemon type assigned to them. NPCs can only be killed by a Super Effective attack from a Pokemon. For example, Flamethrower can kill a Grass NPC, but not a Water NPC.

Identifying the types of the suspects, and the moves that their Pokemon have available to them, will help you find the killer!

Items of Interest

SPOILER: Click to show

{Greenhouse - NEW}Out the kitchen door and down a brick path lies the Greenhouse. Lush and humid all year round, the greenhouse is filled with perfectly kept vegetation, most of which ends up on the Bronstanton dinner table, or in the vases of flowers scattered throughout the mansion.

The plants are tended to by Groundskeeper Crumb and his partner Pokemon Butterfree. Crumb keeps all his tools and various gardening supplies in a small shed in the far corner of the greenhouse.

There are no tasks for this area. Instead, additional information in the dossiers will be unlocked by entering, exploring, and interacting.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Attic - NEW}Through the Creepy Doll Room and up the ladder is the attic. Chill drafts coil through the air like ghostly snakes, weaving between sharpie-labelled boxes of seasonal ornaments and antiques wrapped in newspaper. The dusty carboard boxes have been stacked to make rough rows, and players can wander down the literal memory lanes that stretch above all the other rooms of the house.

Everything here is dry, dusty, or cold, aside from a wet sack stuffed hastily behind one of the beams.

There are no tasks for this area. Instead, additional information in the dossiers will be unlocked by entering, exploring, and interacting.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Hall of Hammers}Stretching elegantly from the Foyer to the spacious Dining Room is a hallway full of family portraits. The names are long and hyphenated, but all the men and women captured in the gorgeous oil paintings bear the same iconic square jaw and cheerful eyes.

Since taking over the mansion, Round 2 have set up what can best be described as a 'gauntlet' of rubber hammer traps, each designed to be surprising, hilarious, and teambuilding, ideally going off in a Rube Goldberg-esque way, with each hammer triggering the next.

Doors lead off the hallway into the Kitchen and the Training Room, and there is a set of blocked stairs leading to the second floor.

Inflatable Hammer #1: Normal move - BRO +1
Inflatable Hammer #2: Flying move + Rock move (TEAM) - TWB & DTF + 0.5
Inflatable Hammer #3: Fire move + Steel move + Fighting move (TEAM) - DTF +1
Marshtomp: (Only available after hammers have been cleared) T3+ Swimmer - DTF +1

SPOILER: Click to show

{Training Room} On another day, this matted room would be full of some sick rock tunes and bros helping each other with deadlifts. At the moment it has been cleared out for the murder investigation, and somber, respectful rock plays from the boombox in the corner.

Weights and punching bags litter the floor, but this room is for Pokemon training too, and there is plenty of specialized equipment. Insulated pads for electric types, fireproof pads for fire types, as well as plenty of stacks of clay tiles and wooden boards. Those last two aren't for any particular Pokemon, everyone just loves breaking them and looking cool.

The door leading from the Training Room into the adjacent bedroom is now OPEN.

Cracked Floorboards: Use Ground moves with over 200 Power (TEAM) - BRO +0.7 & DTF +0.3
Scorch Marks: Kindler subclass or 2 Fire Pokemon - TWB +1
1000kg Weights: Requires 3 Badass total (TEAM) - TWB +1
Poliwrath: Black Belt subclass or 2 Fighting moves - HUGS +1

SPOILER: Click to show

{Kitchen} Plenty of counter space, a double-doored fridge, a spice rack filled with every possible flavor enhancement, and plenty of natural light. This place is a DREAM. There's even room for a whole bookshelf of recipe books, and an indoor herb garden! You can be sure that the Round 2 bros have been putting this place to good use, whipping up plenty of hearty meals and brotein shakes, as well as mixing alcohol with everything left in the fridge to see what tastes good.

The door leading from the Kitchen into the Backyard is now OPEN.

Recipe Book: 0 Power Grass move + 0 Power Dark move (TEAM)- TWB +1
Vanillish: Ice Move + Ice Pokemon (TEAM)- TWB +1
Spice Rack: Sleep move + Poison move + Paralysis move (TEAM) - BRO & DTF & TWB +0.3
Fridge: Steel Pokemon + Electric Attack - DTF +1
Freezer: Freezer subclass - HUGS +1

SPOILER: Click to show

{Dining Room}Wall shelves filled with knickknacks give this room a homey feel. There isn't an inch of space left on the walls, and visitors to this room can spend hours looking at the former owner's collections of ornate plates, steins (some recently used), and miniature clocks. The hundred or so clocks are all ornate and handmade, and tick perfectly in time, casting a slightly hurrying aura over the imposing dining table.

The table itself is long enough to fit a party of fourteen on a single side, and each place set at the table has a frankly untenable number of tiny forks and spoons set beside their plate.

Silverware: Armorer subclass or 2 Steel moves - TWB +1
Suspicious Spill: Three different Psychic moves (TEAM) - BRO + 0.7 & DTF + 0.3
Stained Wall: Gardener subclass + Swimmer subclass (TEAM) - BRO +1
Snubbull: Charmer subclass or 2 Fairy moves - BRO +1

The glowing arch on the wall of the cramped passageway has not changed, though any player who touches the archway will find that their fingers leave behind a glowing trail.

---

Scores & Changes

SPOILER: Click to show

{Scoreboard}

Delta Thunder Force: Yggy Br00ks Alice!  Finnegan Fjord - 4.5 points
Hyperspace Unhinged Grenade Serpent: Laguna orioncayge h0lyn3v1l - 2 points
Blades of Righteous Obsidian: Ruby Big Bee Furrlicity Purrfection - 4.7 point
Two Week Boogie: Tuesday Bergamot Gristleborg Moon Bunny Kath Ulu - 5.8 points

The scoreboard updates, and players receive the necessary notifications.

• Buzzedness points were awarded for failing to start a fire
• Winning points were awarded for completing tasks/Poké-Pong
• Partially completing the Secret Prompt gave 1 point, fully completing it gave 2
• #Badass points were awarded as per usual, and for starting a fire.
• 10 is the max of each stat
• Changes have been marked in bold

• Finnegan Fjord   10 BUZ/10 WIN/2 BAD
• Tuesday   7 BUZ/10 WIN/6 BAD
• Furrlicity Purrfection 4 BUZ/10 WIN/0 BAD 
• orioncayge   5 BUZ/6 WIN/2 BAD
• Big Bee   10 BUZ/7 WIN/0 BAD
• h0lyn3v1l   5 BUZ/4 WIN/1 BAD
• Alice!   4 BUZ/9 WIN/3 BAD
• Ruby   4 BUZ/8 WIN/1 BAD
• Yggy Br00ks   7 BUZ/8 WIN/0 BAD
• Bergamot Gristleborg   10 BUZ/10 WIN/0 BAD
• Laguna   6 BUZ/8 WIN/1 BAD
• Moon Bunny   4 BUZ/10 WIN/0 BAD
• Kath Ulu   10 BUZ/6 WIN/0 BAD

SPOILER: Click to show

{Notifications}Players with +1 Winning can see the black symbols on the Poké-Pong board:

THE SHADOWS SQUIRM, PAINTING WARNINGS ON THE WALLS.

Players with +3 Winning can see the black symbols on the cards
Players with +5 Winning can see the changed Pokemon and the shadows
Players with +8 Winning can hear the sound of whispering on the wind, which eventually becomes the poem heard by Finnegan Fjord
Players with +10 Winning can see the writing above the secret door

Players with +3 Buzzedness see:

THIS BEER SURE IS GOOD! TIME FOR ANOTHER?

Players with +5 Buzzedness see:

CHUG CHUG! PRAISE THE KEG!

Players with +8 Buzzedness see:

SHARE THE PARTY WITH YOUR PARTY!

Players with +10 Buzzedness see:

MAKE AN OFFERING!

and are drawn towards the keg to choose either

> PRAY OR SACRIFICE?

Details

• Players can now swap 1 non-changed Pokemon with a different Pokemon in their Storage
• You can post as many times as you want this round.
• You can upgrade skill trees during this challenge, and if you started with less than 3 Pokemon you can catch more and add them to your team.
• The hidden prompt this round will be included in the mid-round update

FINAL ROUND

Your goal this round is to collect the final clues and pieces of information needed to solve the mystery.

• Question Chadwick about the suspects/victims/situation
• Explore and interact with the Attic and the Greenhouse
• Tuesday Escape from the Changed Creatures, or draw their attention elsewhere

There will be a mid-round update in 72 hrs, where Chadwick will answer questions, the dossiers will be completed, and the ability to accuse a suspect will become available.